Red Rose Turned Black
by Dotaku06
Summary: An evil once thought vanquished is returning to the world of Remnant. The girls of team RWBY will be forced to fight to protect their home once again but will they be ready?
1. Prologue

Hey guys and welcome to my brand new RWBY story Red Rose Turned Black! :D This story will be much closer to the canon of the actual show but with some typical fanfiction style creative liberties XD This prologue is basically here just to set up the basic premise of the story. :) Yes White Rose will be the primary ship and there will be some other ships in there but some key differences with this story is that it will be only be about half as fluffy as Fast Love/Lasting Love. Also it will have some darker elements thrown in. I hope you enjoy it :D

P.S. If you are a fan of Fast Love and Lasting Love don't worry Lasting Love is still ongoing and I am not dropping it. I am just experiencing a bit of a block with that series so I decided to focus on my other stories a bit until the creative juices get flowing again on that series. ^^

Prolouge -

Weiss' Pov -

"Ruby behind you!" I shout. She turns to the Beowulf attempting to get the jump on her. She swiftly slices it in two.

"Thanks for the heads up bestie." she says flashing her signature grin.

"I thought we agreed you'd stop calling me that." I say holstering Myrtenaster.

"No you told me to stop calling you that and I ignored you." she says putting Crescent Rose into it's neutral mode.

"You can be so immature sometimes." I say walking back towards camp.

"Only sometimes, well I guess I have come a long way since we were freshman huh?" she asks, laughing slightly and following me.

"...I suppose you have." I admit. "Now let's get back to camp before Yang and Blake start to worry."

"Yeah I wouldn't want that." she says and we walk for awhile in silence. "I have to say the amount of Grimm we have encountered so far is a little overwhelming, I know this is supposed to be our graduation test but I didn't expect it to be THIS rough."

"As much as I hate to admit it, your right, I am actually fairly exhausted." I say the aches in my muscles starting to set in. When we finally reach camp we notice that Yang and Blake are nowhere to be found.

"Funny...they should've been back by now." Ruby says sounding justifiably worried. Then I notice something that almost made my blood run cold. Blood in the snow.

"Ruby you might want to see this..." I say and she walks over to where I am standing.

"What is i-" she starts to ask before she is cut off by the sight of the blood. She looks as though she is about to panic so I quickly put my hand on her shoulder.

"Ruby?" No response. "RUBY!" She finally turns to look at me. "Now we don't know who's blood this is or serious it is yet so don't panic."

"Yeah...y-your right." she says taking a deep breath. "Come on we gotta follow this trail." I nod and we both dart of in the direction of the blood trail. I can only hope that Yang and Blake are okay. Eventually we reach what appears to be a cave. I use Myrtenaster to create a light source so we can see in the dark. Every step we take my sense of dread gets stronger and stronger. Something isn't right, this isn't a Grimm lair so they obviously weren't dragged here by a Grimm. In that case what could've brought them here. "Yang! Blake!" Ruby shouts as all these questions are running through my head. I look to see them tied up in the middle of the room that confirms it, this is a trap!

"Ruby wait!" I shout as she starts running for her sister, but it's to late as soon as the words escape my mouth Ruby is attacked by a masked assailant who knocks her out cold. Then before I can react I am knocked to the ground and my hands secured behind my back.

"Looks like the Grimm attacks worked like a charm, these morons went down with barely a fight." one of the assailants says tying up Ruby and throwing her over their back.

"What the hell are you doing with Ruby!" I shout, trying to sit up and end up taking a foot to the gut.

"Let's just say our boss has need of your leader." says the one who kicked me in the gut. Yang is going frantic trying to get loose of her binds and Blake is still out cold.

"We were told that we could do what we want with you three so long as we didn't hurt the one with the red cape." one of them says walking over and tilts my head up so I'm looking him in the eye. "I hope you understand that I promised my boys that they could have some fun."

"You sick fuck." I say spitting in his face. He responds by smacking me so hard I can taste blood in my mouth. Luckily for us one of them steps forward and says they have to go. This one seems more calm and composed than the others but still gave off a sinister aura.

"Well looks like you girls are lucky for now, the cavalry is on the way and we have to go." he says kicking me around before leaning down and pushing my face into the dirt. "Just wait until we meet again, once my boss makes her move, I'll be back and you will regret disrespecting me." he says before hitting me so hard I pass out.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a bed in the infirmary. Yang is in a shouting fight with a nurse while Blake tries to hold her back. I couldn't remember at first what they were shouting about but then it all came back to me at once and I bolted up out of my bed. Those bastards got Ruby! "We have to go get Ruby back." I say trying to walk for the door. That asshole must've messed me up worse than I thought.

"That's what I'm trying to tell this idiot but she won't let me go!" Yang shouts, her eyes blood red.

"Yang we are in no position to rescue anyone especially not you and Weiss, you guys got the worst of it." Blake says trying to be the voice of reason. "We need to rest and then we can search for Ruby."

"Fuck that!" Yang says shaking Blake off with enough force to launch Blake into the bed. "That's my little sister, and who knows what those scumbags are doing to her!"

"I understand Yang." Blake says remaining calm despite being launched into the bed obviously hurting her. "I really do but remember what you told me three years ago, what good are you to anybody when you can barely even stand?" That seemed to calm Yang down somewhat.

"Yang..I really REALLY want to go get Ruby back too" I say taking a step forward which is easier said than done at the moment. " but Blake is right, in our current condition there is no way we could get her back." Yang's eyes turn back into her normal violet color and she looks defeated. Then she does something none of us expected. She falls to her knees and starts crying. Blake and I rush to her side.

"I *sniff* was supposed to keep her safe!" she shouts between sobs. "I failed, I am a terrible sister!" Blake wraps her in a hug.

"There was nothing you could've done Yang...you can't blame yourself." she says in a soft tone. "We are going to get Ruby back and make the people who took her pay." I decide against my nature to join in on the hug since this was a special occasion. Eventually we finally get Yang to calm down and return to her bed. Like Blake said we are going to get Ruby...my friend back and the assholes will pay.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 -

As soon as I was able to walk I immediately began my search for Ruby. I decided to search for information outside the city at surrounding villages and other secluded locations. Yang and Blake decided to conduct their search within the city and team JNPR, our closest friends, who were away on their graduation exam promised to gather as much information as they could from where they were at. Not to mention Ruby's dad and Qrow who were both frantically using all their connections to dig up as much as they could...still it has been a few days and we haven't been able to turn up anything. Whoever these guys are they have covered their tracks very well. I decided to turn in for the night at a nearby inn.

"One room please." I say exhaustively walking up to the innkeeper and putting some cash down on the table.

"Coming right up...um you wouldn't happen to be the girl asking around about a girl in a red cape would you?" she asks as she passed my room key.

"Yeah why?" I ask my interest now piqued.

"Well just the other day a group of guys stayed the night here and they had a girl dressed in a red cloak with them...I thought it was strange but I have seen much weirder things pass through, I thought maybe she was criminal they were collecting a bounty on or something." she explains. I honestly can't blame her for not thinking much of it but it still infuriates me that I only missed them by a couple days.

"Those men were kidnappers and the girl with them was my friend, please did they tell you where they were going, or maybe even just drop any hints?" I ask.

"Oh...I'm really sorry to hear that, they didn't mention exactly where they were going but I did overhear one of them mention something about heading east." she says in a sympathetic tone.

"Thank you, that helps a lot you have no idea." I say, relieved that I have SOMETHING to go on now.

"No need to thank me, I just wish I could've been more helpful." she says. "I hope you find your friend."

"Thank you, really." I say before walking up to my room. Now that I have some direction I better contact Yang and Blake. I call up Yang's scroll but I get no answer so I just send her a message telling them that the kidnappers are headed east and to meet me at the coordinates I sent them. "Ruby...I really hope your okay." I say laying down on the bed. I have been worried out of my mind these past few days. I know these are very bad people who have taken Ruby and I have no idea what they might do to her. My only comfort being that the asshole who beat the shit out of me said they were told not to hurt her. I am finally able to fall asleep but only because I am beyond exhausted.

The next morning I wake up and nearly jump out of my skin when I see that someone is in my room. I calm down when I see that it is just Yang and Blake though. Yang is just sitting their looking really fidgety. Blake was sharpening her blade and glancing over at Yang like she is waiting for a bomb to go off.

"You guys nearly scared the hell out of me." I say sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"Yeah well your lucky Blake was here because I wanted to wake you up right when we got here, we don't have any time to waste." Yang says standing up.

"I'm sorry are you trying to imply something?" I say getting off the bed.

"Just that every second you waste getting your beauty sleep the farther away those scumbags get." she says in a snarky tone.

"How dare you!" I shout. "I have been searching almost around the clock since Ruby disappeared, so excuse me for needing to rest for a little while!" Yang looks like she is about to punch me in the face.

"Yang!" Blake shouts which seems to snap her out of it before she stomps out of the room. "Weiss..please don't take anything she says to personally...she hasn't been right since Ruby was taken."

"I know I know" I say letting out an irritated sigh. "I try to remember that her baby sister is missing...I just wish she'd try to remember she isn't the only one affected by it." I say before walking out the door looking downcast. Blake follows shortly after. Once I get downstairs I see Yang waiting by the front door looking agitated.

"Are you guys ready to go or what?" she asks.

"Yeah..yeah we're ready." I say putting my travel bag over my shoulder.

"Good let's go." she says walking out the door with Blake and I following closely behind. We walk for hours in complete silence. This is just all the more reason I want Ruby back. Obviously I want her back just because...I miss her..more than I ever thought I would, but also because I want us to go back to the way we were. Especially Yang who feels like she is getting more and more distant.

"We actually aren't that far from where JNPR was sent for their graduation exam." Blake says.

"Oh that's right I should probably let them know to be on the lookout." I said pulling out my scroll, ignoring what sounded like a snarky remark from Yang, and sending a message to Pyrrha. She should send the message along to their leader a.k.a her boyfriend. I can't believe it took those two that long to get together. I was happy when they did though. For starters they are actually kind of nice together and even better than that it made Jaune finally give up on me. I have to admit he's not a bad guy in fact...he's pretty great he's just not my type. I found later that Neptune wasn't really my type either, again not because he's a bad guy...we just didn't click. In fact I have had trouble clicking with any guys. Ruby is the only person I have ever really been able to get close to. We may have started out kind of rocky but...she is the best friend I have ever had, she is just always there for me when I need her. You may have to torture me to get me to admit it but...I care about her.

Then out of no where Yang extends her arm signaling us to stop. Why would we stop now we were almost to the next village. I looked around the almost completely darkened forest and got my answer. We were absolutely surrounded by blood red eyes. I immediately unsheathed Myrtenaster, then Yang and Blake readied their weapons.

"This isn't right, there were no reports at all of a Beowulf pack this large anywhere near this location." Blake says ready to strike at a moments notice.

"Not to mention I am seeing a lot of Alphas in this pack...there usually isn't more than one." I respond perplexed as to how this could be happening.

"Well well look who I found." A voice comes from somewhere within the pack. Slowly a man with black hair and red eyes steps forward. He doesn't appear to be much older than we are. He smirks revealing a pair of very sharp canines. "Sorry ladies but I have been ordered to put an end to your little investigation." Hey says pulling out two long back katanas.

"So your with the people that took Ruby?" I say pointing my blade at him. He give us another condescending smirk.

"With them?" he answers my question with a question. "No those lowlifes were merely hired help, I just happen to work for the one that hired them and my boss doesn't want you catching up to them."

"Tell me where my sister is now!" Yang says her eyes now turned red.

"Ooh well looks like someone has Grimmiore blood in their veins." the man says sounding genuinely surprised but not the least beat worried.

"What the hell are your talking about?" I ask and he just shakes his head.

"It doesn't matter, you'll be dead soon." he snaps his fingers and suddenly all the beowolves charge at us at once. Yang immediately starts tearing into them recklessly. Blake and I try our best to keep them off of her when suddenly I am attacked from my left side by the man and his katanas. I manage to fend him off barely.

"Well well it looks like the little baby Schnee can fight." he says chuckling. I slide my flame dust into the cylinder and blast a wave of fire at him. He manages to dodge it and his blades seem to stretch out into a kind of whip form. So I guess I know his weapons secondary mode is chain-blades. He swings them both at me and I barely manage to get out of the way, the bottom half of my ponytail wasn't so lucky. Before I can even land on my feet he is already right next to me and he swings his weapon. There was no way I was going to dodge this attack. It sliced into my side luckily my Aura absorbed most of the attack but it still managed to draw blood. I cringe grabbing at my side and I land on my back. Before I can stand up he is behind me and kicking me into a nearby tree.

"Weiss!" I hear Blake shout. I look towards her and see that she started to run in my direction but before she can even take a step he sends her flying too. This guy is the fastest fighter I have ever seen I can't even track his movements. He managed to knock Blake unconscious and he walked up to her ready to drive his blade through her.

"NO STOP!" I yell as loud as I can ignoring the encroaching Beowolves who are all set to kill me. I would say he was ignoring me but as I yell I notice the sinister smirk on his face grow wider. Just as he is about to thrust his blade he is slammed by a familiar round shield. I look in the direction it came from and what I see fills me with some relief. "Guys!"

"Nora, Ren you guys fan out and help them deal with these Beowolves Pyrrha and I got this asshole." Jaune orders and his team members comply. A few years ago I would've felt bad for Pyrrha having Jaune as back up but let's just say...he's certainly improved. Suddenly our attacker lunges at Jaune and Pyrrha swings his blades at them from both sides but they just hold up their shields and easily block the attack. His speed won't do him much good against these two. When they are together they form a nearly perfect defense. The only way to defeat them is to overpower them and that is beyond easier said than done.

"You alright Weiss?" I hear Nora ask and I turn my head to see her offering me a hand.

"Y-Yeah thanks you guys, you literally saved us." I say honestly and take her hand. I mean it too..I don't think we could've taken him alone especially with all these Beowolves backing him up.

"Jaune figured something was up when you didn't respond to his message so we fanned out to look for you guys." she says pulling me up.

"Is Blake okay?" I ask worried for her safety.

"She's knocked out but she's fine, it takes a lot more than that to take out our Blakey." Nora says in her usual cheery tone. "Now while they are dealing with that guy what do you say we help Yang take out the rest of these dumb Beowolves?"

"My pleasure." I say picking up my weapon. Nora and I start tearing into the Beowolves while our attacker keeps trying to in vain take swings at Pyrrha and Jaune. They manage to actually get some really good hits in on him while sticking to their phalanx formation.

"Damn...it's been awhile since I've actually been wounded." he says grabbing his shoulder.

"Give it up you can't win." Jaune says with a commanding glare.

"Fine." he says letting out a soft chuckle. "I think I've stalled you long enough, but don't misunderstand this isn't the last you'll see of me." He snaps his fingers and the remaining Beowolves follow as he runs off in the opposite direction.

"Where do you think your going asshole!" Yang shouts running after him.

"Nora go after her." Jaune says as he and Pyrrha walk over to us, followed by Ren who was carrying Blake.

"You got it boss." she says running after Yang.

"Sorry it took us so long." Jaune says sheathing his sword. "Wish we could've found you before you guys got hurt."

"Don't worry about iiiittttt." I barely manage to say before the exhaustion and blood loss finally sets in and everything goes dark.


	3. Chapter 2

Hope you guys are enjoying this story so far XD It turned out to be a bit harder to write than I originally thought lol. Regardless it is pretty fun trying out a different style with one of my favorite universes. :)

Also to any new readers I have attracted with this story (and old readers who came over from my other stories ;) ) if you would like to support me outside of reading my fan fiction than you can go check out my Youtube channel Dotaku (my profile picture is the same there as it is here) and or my Deviantart page viralfear. My old readers will tell you that I'm not trying to pressure you XD it's totally fine if you just want to read my stories because that is already AWESOME of you :) it would just be very appreciated if you did go check out my other stuff especially my Youtube channel :D Any-who enjoy the new chapter and let me know what you think. :)

Chapter 2 -

I slowly open my eyes the sharp pain in my side mostly gone. I look around trying to figure out where I am and I see Blake sleeping in the bed next to mine and Yang is sitting in a chair between our beds. When she notices that I woke up she immediately turns to me with a frantic look on her face.

"Oh thank god you finally woke up." she says scooting her chair closer to mine.

"It'll take more than extreme blood loss to kill me." I say letting out a slight chuckle.

"I'm sorry.." I hear her say softly.

"Pardon?" I ask just to ensure I didn't mishear her. She lets out a loud sigh.

"I'm really sorry okay...I have been such a jerk to both you and Blake, not to mention I was so obsessed that I didn't even notice she had been knocked unconscious and you were bleeding out." she says hanging her head in shame. "I was being a selfish idiot." I put my hand over hers.

"I understand Yang...frankly I am going insane over Ruby being gone too, I mean she was my first and..best friend" I say out loud probably for the first time."but she is your sister that must be unbearable and I don't know if I would have acted much differently if it was Winter who was kidnapped, basically I am just trying to say I forgive you."

"Thanks Weiss." she says looking as though she was about to cry.

"Sooo how is Blake?" I ask out of concern.

"She's fine the doctor said she probably didn't suffer any head trauma and should be up and about in a few hours...when she wakes up I owe her an apology too." she says turning to face her.

"I'm sure she will forgive you too, after all she is YOUR best friend." I say trying to reassure her.

"Yeah..she is." Yang says smiling.

A few hours later Blake wakes up and gets her own emotional apology from Yang. As I predicted she accepted and they hugged. Not much longer after that we were all dressed and ready to continue our search. Apparently while we were in the hospital team JNPR went around asking for information on the men we were looking for. They said that someone working at the docks mentioned seeing some people matching the description boarding a ship to Mistral.

"Thanks again for saving us back in the forest guys." I say giving them all...even Jaune one last hug before we take off.

"We don't need a thanks, I mean what were we supposed to do let our friends become Beowolf chow?" Jaune says chuckling before dawning a more serious face. "If you really wanna thank us just make sure you get Ruby back."

"Don't worry we will." Yang says with a determination that makes it seem impossible for us to fail. After one final goodbye we head to the docks and buy tickets, boarding a ship heading straight for Mistral. The cabin we were given for the trip was kind of small but none of us really cared. We were on a mission not vacation.

"What do you think that person meant?" Yang asks laying on her cot.

"Meant by what?" I ask.

"What he meant when he said I have Grimmiore blood in me?" she asks not looking away from the ceiling.

"I'm not sure...I've never even heard of a Grimmiore." I answer honestly.

"I wouldn't take anything he says to seriously, for all we know he was just fucking with you." Blake says while reading her book.

"Yeah..I guess." Yang says and the conversation to just ends there.

A few days later we are about to pull into the harbor when Yang gets a message on her scroll.

"Hey guys, Uncle Qrow said that he is going to meet us at Inn in the harbor town." she says doing what looks to be replying. "He says that he caught wind of some strange guys who just came into town and he wants us to help him search the town."

"Great it looks like we are finally catching up to those ass holes." I say now filled with a sudden burst of determination. As soon as we dock we head straight into town, wasting time finding the Inn. We see him sitting at counter drinking of course.

"Uncle Qrow..it's good to see you." Yang says before walking up and hugging him which he reciprocates.

"It's good to see you too kiddo." he says sounding like this whole Ruby missing thing hit him harder than any of us. "As great as it is though we can catch up once we have Ruby back."

"Yeah I agree." Yang says and they both turn super serious on a dime.

"Good, now I heard from several sources that they have been spotted around the warehouse district and the marketplace." He says pulling out a map and pointing them out. "Yang and I will search around the market, Blake and Weiss, you guys will take the warehouse district."

"Got it." Blake and I say in unison.

"We keep in constant communication and neither team makes a move without alerting the other." he says sounding honestly pretty cool. So this is a professional Huntsman in action. Once we are all clear on the plan we move out to our respective zones. Blake and I try to blend in as much as we can so as not to draw attention in case they spot us and run. We are so close to getting Ruby back I can taste it, we can't fuck this up. Finally when we reach the warehouse district we move onto the rooftops so we can search buildings without being spotted to easily. After we search all the buildings in the area and found nothing we decided to camp out on one of the rooftops in case they show up.

"We are getting Ruby back today, I can feel it." I say determined while scanning the area below with my eyes.

"Weiss..I would just like to say I admire how strong you have been through all of this." Blake says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well I know how important Ruby is to you, I mean I care for her a lot but, between Yang losing her sister and you losing someone so special to you I wouldn't want to be in either of your shoes." she says in a sympathetic tone.

"Well...I'll be honest I put on a brave face but...this has been pretty hard on me I mean some nights I...I actually cried." I say honestly. "I just kept seeing her face and imagining what those bastards are doing to her."

"I'm sorry Weiss." Blake says putting her hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry she is coming home."

"Yeah, she is." I say giving her a little smile to assure her I am fine. "Thanks Blake."

"Look." she suddenly says under her breath and ducks so as to hide herself a bit more. I follow suit and look where she instructed me to. It's those men!

"Yang and Qrow come in." I say into the two way radio.

"Qrow here what is it?" he asks.

"Those men are here at the warehouse district and they are entering warehouse 12." I say.

"Got it, remember don't confront them until we get there but keep them under surveillance." he says in a super serious tone.

"Understood." I respond and signal Blake to follow me over to the warehouse 12 roof so we can keep our eye on them. I'm not seeing Ruby but they could be hiding her. After about fifteen minutes they begin to pack up their things.

"Weiss there about to move out." Blake says.

"I can see that." I respond. "We're supposed to wait for Qrow and Yang but we can't let them leave." They finish packing up and begin leaving. "Dammit, let's go Blake." We jump down through the roof window and I land in front of the door cutting them off.

"What the hell!?" I hear one of the shout.

"Well Well if it isn't the insufferable ice queen." I hear a familiar voice say, a voice I can never forget. He steps forward only this time he isn't wearing a mask. He has grey hair and bright yellow eyes.

"Alright you piece of garbage, I have been searching everywhere for you and I have no patience for your bull shit." I say wanting to run him through right here. "Your going to hand over Ruby now."

"Yeahhhh I am afraid not." he points in both directions instructing his men to surround me. "You see you've just saved me the trouble of finding you myself and now we're going to continue where we left off."

"Fuck you, I would rather die then have you even lay a single disgusting finger on me." I say imagining putting Myrtenaster in his chest. They do have me outnumbered and even with Blake as back up we may have trouble taking them all, my best bet is to just keep him talking.

"Well that could be arranged but I have to say it would be a waste of such a young tight body." he says making me cringe.

"You better not have laid a finger on Ruby or I swear I'll make your death slow and painful." I say and he just laughs.

"She's not really my type." he says. "My boys on the other hand I can't speak for them."

"I am going to kill you all!" I shout growing more infuriated.

"Calm down princess." he says laughing even harder. "We didn't touch her she was worth to much money, though I will say your even sexier when your angry." I was about to just say screw it and attack but just as I was about to make my move Blake sneaks up on the guy and has her blade against his throat. Meanwhile Qrow and Yang surround the rest of them on both sides.

"Like my friend said, you will tell us where Ruby is or you will all die here and now." Blake says in her sinister voice. It was so satisfying watching his smarmy smirk fade into a scowl.

"Well I hate to break it to you sweetheart but we don't have her anymore." he says through gritted teeth.

"What do you mean you don't have her!" Yang shouts.

"Exactly like I said, we traded her off to one of our employer's men, got paid, and that was it." he responds.

"Hey wait a minute..I recognize your face." Qrow says.

"You would old man, you almost caught me last year for killing some people I got paid pretty handsomely for that." he says with a smirk. "To bad that I had to orphan some kids but hey a job is a job."

"I knew you were a monster but...that is just a whole other level of depravity." I say wanting nothing more than to run him through here and now.

"I don't care who you are or what you've done, I just want you to tell us where they are taking Ruby NOW!" Blake says pressing the blade harder against his throat.

"Sorry I don't know, I'm not paid to ask questions, and even if I did know I wouldn't say now if you'll excuse me." he snaps his fingers and suddenly he bursts into dust.

"What the hell!?" Yang yells.

"Yang you and me will search the perimeter to make sure he isn't hiding nearby, Weiss you and Blake stay here with these lowlifes." Qrow orders as him and Yang run off.

Eventually they both returned only to report that he had escaped. After a...thorough questioning of his men we realized they didn't know anything either and we turned them over to the local police. We went back to the INN afterward since we were all tired and frustrated.

"I can't believe that we got so close to only be back at square one." I say collapsing onto my bed.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take." Yang says looking on the verge of a breakdown. Blake sits next to her and puts an arm over her shoulders.

"I'm sorry Yang I can't imagine how devastating this must be." she says.

"I just..swore I would protect her...how am I supposed to do that if we can't even find her." Yang says with a tear rolling down her cheek.

"I can't totally understand how you feel but...I have some idea, I mean Ruby and I we promised to have each others backs as partners, b-best friends and I let her down." I say the thought of her and what those monsters could be doing to her running through my mind.

"Weiss...I'm sorry I know this must be really hard on you too." Yang says wiping a tear from her face.

"You don't have to be sorry...it's hard on all of us I mean we all care about Ruby and I know to some extent..we all feel responsible but the only thing we can do is keep trying, we have to find her." I say determined to save her. "Besides Ruby and I have some unfinished business to discuss."

"What unfinished business?" Yang asks.

"I'll..I'll tell you tomorrow." I say laying down. "Get some rest because tomorrow we have work to do." It wasn't to long after that everyone laid down to get some sleep.


	4. Chapter 3

Hey guys. :) I am having a ton of fun writing this one, I hope you guys are enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it. :D I know this chapter is kind of short but trust me the next chapter will make up for it and besides despite the length I rather like the content of this chapter. XD Anywho you should check my DA page for an important update about my Youtube channel. Enjoy the chapter. :)

Chapter 3 -

Ruby's POV -

I slowly regain consciousness. I lift up my head and it doesn't take long to realize that I can't move my arms or legs. They have been tied together and whoever did the tying knows their stuff. I look around and see that I am in the back of what appears to be a horse driven cart. Not so common inside the cities anymore but still used often by nomads. I look out through a crack in one of the boards and see that we are surrounded by pretty swampy terrain.

"How long are you idiots planning on trying to run, it won't be long before my friends catch you!" I shout and slam against the wall.

"Be quiet back there." I hear a voice call out. I don't recognize that voice...could be it that they traded me off to this "employer" of theirs?

"I wouldn't try to piss off Kuma he even kinda scares me." I hear a voice say from behind me. I turn my head to see a black haired boy with red eyes sitting at the rear of the cart probably to keep a look out.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"The names Allen pleasure to meet you Ruby." he says with a cocky yet...not really sinister grin.

"Well Allen, where are you guys taking me?" I ask hoping this guy might actually be more cooperative.

"Sorry I can't tell you that." he says crushing my hopes. "All I can tell you is we are going to see mother."

"Mother?" I ask.

"Yep that's what we call her anyway, she looks after us Grimmiore." he says stretching and looking out the back of the cart.

"Grimmiore?" I ask, this guy giving me more questions than answers.

"Yeah most people don't know we exist anymore, we are something of a rare breed especially these days, and most of the old legends about our kind have been forgotten." he says looking actually kind of sad.

"What are..your kind?" I ask and he lets out a sigh.

"Grimmiore are well...a sort of Human, Grimm hybrid." he says looking back over at me.

"A-A What!?" I ask a bit to loudly.

"Quite back there!" I hear the man Kuma shout.

"Sorry Kuma!" Allen shouts back. "Yes we are a hybrid of Human and Grimm the best of both mashed together."

"How is that even possible?" I ask unsure of whether I even believe him.

"Well we Grimmiore aren't even sure anymore, like I said much of that was lost to history, but we believe it was when a wise Grimm decided it would be better to force humans to join them than destroy them." he says looking back out of the cart. "He infused a group of humans with the essence of Grimm and the result was Grimmiore, Humans who not only shared certain abilities with Grimm but could also tap control lesser Grimm, not to mention we kept the abilities of Aura including semblance."

"Wow..." was all I could think to say. "Well if you have all that power why not help destroy the Grimm?"

"Sorry Ruby but that is not in our agenda." he says.

"Why not?" I ask dumbfounded. "With all that power you could ensure human victory over the Grimm?"

"Firstly while we certainly would be an asset, we wouldn't mean a sure victory, for one we can't force Grimm to destroy each other." he says. "Second we agree with the Grimm that humanity needs to either be assimilated or destroyed."

"Why?" I ask. "How could you think that?"

"Humans are the truly evil ones, they kill each other constantly over petty nonsense, they only look out for themselves in the end, and they don't care who they have to stomp on to get their way." he says. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't some truth to what he is saying but..

"That's not all their is to humanity.." I say and he just chuckles. "It's true..sure we can be selfish, stupid, even destructive in our goal to achieve greatness but...we always are capable of compassion and love, we can be willing to put our lives on the line to save those we love and to protect those who can't protect themselves."

"If only I could believe that Ruby..but I have seen to much evil in your kind." he says with a look of scorn.

"What do you want from me anyway?" I ask.

"I don't know, Mother just told us to bring you to her." he says and I decide to end the conversation there. I need to find a way to make it so my friends can find me. I see that my cape has been snagged and torn slightly. As much as it pains me to hurt my cape even further this is important. When Allen isn't looking I reach my hands over and rip it as fast as I can considering my hands are tied up. I then inch over to the crack in the board and let the torn piece of cloth drop out of the cart. That should help give them some idea of where to look.

Weiss' POV -

We decided to ride on a horse drawn carriage on our way to the next village. We came to the conclusion that there wasn't much to be done in the city anymore and thought it best to continue our search elsewhere. Qrow made the decision to hang back in the city so that if he hears any rumors or buzz that he can send it our way.

"How far ahead do you think these guys are?" Yang asks, looking up at the sky.

"I'm not sure but I'm fairly certain they made the trade off that night before we arrived so...maybe a day's worth of travel." I say, polishing Myrtenaster.

"Sounds about right, if we keep moving we should still be able to catch them." Blake says while she is calibrating Gambel Shroud. I still haven't wrapped my head around why they would take Ruby in the first place. I mean she is a very talented Huntress but there are a lot of talented Huntresses so why take her specifically? No matter how many times I run the possibilities through my head nothing adds up. Then suddenly just as we are about to approach a fork in the road I see something lying on the ground.

"Hey, could you please stop the cart for a moment?" I ask the guy up front.

"Sure things miss." he says pulling on the reins and bringing the cart to a halt. I hop out and run over to the object and pick up.

"I knew this looked familiar, guys come here!" I shout. Blake and Yang hop out and walk over to where I am kneeling.

"What is it?" Yang asks and I hold up a piece of red cloth.

"Is that what I think it is?" Blake asks.

"There is no doubt about it, it's a piece of Ruby's cape" I say. "and it was lying on that road not the one heading into the village."

"Well I'm sorry ladies but I have a shipment to get to the village." the man apologizes.

"Don't worry about it, thank you for taking us this far." Blake responds.

"Yeah we can take it from here." Yang says. The man in the cart waves good bye and heads off toward the village. We take the opposite trail now happy that we are once again on track.

"Do you think Ruby dropped that intentionally?" Blake asks gently taking it from my hands and looking it over.

"Yeah..I think so because look" I point to the tear. "It starts out looking like an accidental rip, a snag maybe, but then becomes a very deliberate tear."

"Good eye Ice Queen." Yang says jokingly. I'm so used to the nickname by now that it doesn't really bother me anymore. "At least that means Ruby is probably okay and believes we are looking for her."

"Yeah that definitely helps ease my mind a bit." I say letting myself genuinely smile, even if it is a small one, for the first time since Ruby went missing. "It also means Ruby is waiting for us so we gotta keep at it."

"You said it Weissy." Yang says patting me on the back...rather hard too. Under normal circumstances I would've gotten angry and called her a brute but I'm just happy to see her in good spirits.


	5. Chapter 4

Hey guys sorry this one took so long but I hope you like it XD Quick announcement I have made an official Dotaku fan page on Facebook. It will be a hub for my Youtube, , and Deviantart followers where I will post all kinds of stuff from updates to, contests, ext. So if you wanna like the page just go on Facebook and search Dotaku, I'm pretty sure you'll know it when you see it XD Enjoy the Chapter

Chapter 4 -

Flashback

"What are you doing you dolt?" I ask, finally finding Ruby out on the roof. "I have been looking for you everywhere."

"Oh sorry Weiss." is all she says before going back to staring at the moon. I immediately feel bad because there is obviously something wrong.

"Whats the matter?" I ask walking over next to her and leaning on the rail.

"I don't know honestly." she says without taking her eyes off the sky.

"Is it the fact that we are graduating in a few months?" I ask.

"I guess that's part of it." she says finally looking at me. "We...We'll always be friends right?"

"Of course." I say kind of caught of guard by the question. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know...I guess I'm just worried that after graduation everyone will go their separate ways and we'll all fall apart." she says looking so sad it actually kind of breaks my heart.

"Well listen Ruby I have been meaning to talk to you about that and...how would you like to remain partners once we graduate?" I ask.

"Really you mean it?!" she asks looking pretty excited.

"Of course I mean it dolt..you're very skilled and you'd make a valuable partner." I say leaving out the part where I would miss her.

"Well I think that sounds like an amazing idea!" she shouts hugging me and causing a blush to rise to my cheeks. I hug her back after a moment of hesitation.

"As for everyone else..we are all really good friends and we always will be despite where life might take us." I say and she hugs me a bit tighter.

"Thanks Weiss...I feel better now." she says in a soft sweet tone. We stay like that for awhile just enjoying being near each other.

Ruby's POV -

There is something that is very...uncomfortable about taking a shower while your two male captors are waiting right outside the door. At least I finally get to take one though, I will say these guys are a bit easier to deal with than the guys who took me, they kept me tied up the whole time...even when I was using the restroom which wasn't fun to say the least. Allen in particular is actually really..nice, for a kidnapper anyway. He never yells, he trys his best to be accommodating, he answers any questions he can it sucks that he is my kidnapper or we could be friends.

When we first got to the Inn I met a female companion of theirs, who apparently had been riding up front with Kuma on the cart. Her name was Hebi, she had a long slender frame and sported a pair of strange snake like fangs. Like the rest of them she also had black hair and blood red eyes. She was okay she wasn't super nice but she wasn't rude or mean.

The only one who gave me any trouble was Kuma, the guy had a huge bulking frame, he also had a constant scowl on his face. Don't get me wrong he was still better than those thugs who took me but..let's just say he had a short temper and wasn't exactly patient. He is basically like the nega-Yatsuhashi. I finally finish showering so I hop out of the shower, drying of and getting dressed, before walking back out into the hotel room.

"Okay boys good work on guarding the door." I say patting Allen on the shoulder before I collapse onto the hotel bed.

"Why of course milady." he says jokingly bowing. He then walks over to the window and opens it up so he can sit on the window seal.

"Haha, hey Hebi it's all yours." I say looking over the the girl. She has her headphones which must be why she didn't hear me come out of the bathroom in the first place. Allen throws a coin at her head.

"Ow!" she yells as the coin hits her head. She takes of her headphone looking pretty agitated. "Allen you asshole."

"Hey you don't know I threw it." he says with a smirk.

"Please it's always you." she says.

"Hebi, I am out of the bathroom now if you need to use the shower." I say trying to stop them before they start arguing.

"Oh, thanks Ruby." she says glaring at Allen one last time before walking into the bathroom.

"You better be careful birdbrain, one of these days that girl is gonna pump you full of venom." I say stretching.

"Nah, she love me." he says flashing his signature smirk. He then looks back out the window and his expression changes instantly to one of surprise. "Crap!"

"What?" I ask as he ducks behind the window.

"I can't let them see me, they had a run in with our brother Lucious not to long ago, they might put two and two together." he says signalling Kuma to notify Hebi.

"Hebi we may have an issue." he says through the door and I immediately hear the water turn off.

"What is going on?" I ask and before Kuma or Allen can react I look out the window, what I see instantly puts a huge grin on my face. It's Weiss, Yang, and Blake walking down the road. "Weiss!" As soon as I call out though Allen tackles me to the ground and covers my mouth with his hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." he says in a hushed tone, signaling Kuma to close the window.

"I'm sure Weiss heard me, hate to break it to you but this is the end of the road." I say with a sly grin.

"You better hope not." Kuma says. "We may be under strict orders not to harm you but it doesn't apply to them."

"They could take you I'm sure of it." I say giving Kuma an agitated look.

"Even if they could take us by ourselves, we could each summon a horde of Grimm that would decend upon this town which would also be quite bad for the locals, so I repeat you had better hope she didn't hear you." he says. I had never really thought of that, I would hate for the people of this town to be dragged into this.

"Okay I'm here what happened." Hebi says walking out of the bathroom.

"Her friends are here, they must've tracked us to this town somehow." Allen says looking at me.

"What?" I ask. "How could I have lead them here?" He looks me over as if trying to find the answer. Then he looks at my cape hanging of the back of a chair and see the tear I made. He walks over and grabs it.

"What is this?" he asks.

"I don't know...it must've gotten snagged or something." I respond hoping he buys it.

"I don't think so." Well so much for hope. "It starts out looking like a snag but the rest of the tear is deliberate, you tore off a piece of your cape and dropped it bag on the trail which led them here."

"Well..I guess your smarter than I thought." I say refusing to make eye contact with him.

"I told you she needs to be triple tied up, hand cuffed, duct tape over her mouth, the works." Kuma says. "I haven't trusted her from the moment I saw her.

"Remember who was put in charge Kuma, cool it." Allen said with a rare look of authority. "He is partially right though Ruby, if you pull this kind of stunt again then we can make this a whole lot more unpleasant for you."

"Maybe we should just leave, after all we are only about a days ride away from Mother." Hebi suggests.

"Yeah..Yeah good call Hebi." He says as he pulls me up off the ground. "Kuma go load up the cart we are heading out."

Weiss' POV -

"I'm moving into position now." I say into my scroll as I place myself above the window to the room.

"Now are you sure you heard someone call your name?" Yang asks into her scroll.

"Yes okay just trust me, how are those horses coming?" I ask.

"I got them but why do we need horses again?" she asks.

"In case they try make a get away we can give chase." I respond. "Are in position in the hall Blake?"

"Yeah if they try to make a break for it I'll be waiting." she says.

"Okay then I'm entering...now!" I say before bursting in through the window and what I see fills me with joy and dread. I see Ruby, who much to my anger is tied up, but I also see three other people who remind me of that monster who attacked us in the forest. They look as if they were getting ready to leave. Meaning much to my relief we were just in time for once.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouts.

"It's okay Ruby we are here to save you." I say smiling at her, almost in tears from hearing her voice again.

"Oh you deluded little girl, I hate to break it to you but we are leaving here whether you let us past or we have to go through you and any unfortunate villagers who get caught in the crossfire." the more slender male says with a cocky grin on his face.

"I don't care who you people think you are but Ruby is coming with me..I mean us." I correct myself blushing slightly.

"Well I don't care who you think we are or what Ruby is to you, all I care about is that I was ordered to bring the one called Rose to Mother and I will complete that order at any cost." he says now looking more sinister. "You have until the count of 10 to leave or I'm afraid we will have to kill you."

"Bring it you son of a bitch." I say giving Blake the signal and she bursts in attacking the large one. I launch forward and knock the slender male back before running over to Ruby and cutting her free. "Lets go Ruby." I grab her and jump out the window and Blake follows using her semblance to get away. We run to Yang who is waiting outside.

"Ruby!" Yang yells bursting into tears as she runs and embraces her. "I'm so glad your safe, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay sis.." Ruby says sniffling. "I'm just sorry I made you all worry."

"As much as I have missed Ruby...and would really like to talk it'll have to wait until we deal with them." I point out as they jump out the window after us.

"Hey Ruby I'll bet you've been missing this, your gonna need it." Blake says with a smile as she tosses Ruby Crescent Rose.

"You guys brought my baby?" Ruby says excitedly.

"Of course, we thought our leader might be needing it." I say smiling.

"I'd hate to break up this touching reunion but Ruby is coming with us." the slender one says with an angry scowl.

"We can take you Allen even with Kuma and Hebi backing you up." Ruby says changing Crescent Rose into it's battle form.

"I warned you what would happen Ruby now any deaths that happen are on your head." He says snapping his fingers, his friends do the same. Suddenly we the ground begins to shake.

"What is happening?!" I ask and almost as if to answer my question I hear

"GRIMM!" a village woman shouts and we turn to see dozens of Ursa and King Taijitus speeding towards the village. That wasn't all, when we looked towards the sky we saw at least 2 Nevermores...really big ones, flying towards us. So these were the same kind of monsters as the one we saw in the forest. Hopefully they aren't quite as powerful..

"Yang and Blake you guys are on evac/slash extermination duty!" Ruby shouts taking charge once again. "Weiss and I will handle these 3."

"You got it Rubes just...please stay safe." Yang says as she grabs Blake and runs off.

"Oh come now Ruby you don't honestly think you four still stand a chance." he say walking over to what I assume is their cart and grabs out a sword. He then tosses a pair of spiked gauntlets to the one named Kuma and a pair of sais to the girl named Hebi.

"Yeah I do, you have never seen team RWBY in action." Ruby says smirking.

"Very well then lets at least make this a good fight." Allen says smirking back. Then he suddenly charges at her with ridiculous speed but not quite the inhuman speed the one in the forest exhibited. Ruby barely managed to block him but then fires off Crescent Rose using the recoil to spin and around and kick him in the face. I dodge a bunch from Kuma who's gauntlets appear to be giving off an electrical charge, his punch leaves a giant whole in the wall I was standing in front of.

"Alright I may need some help for this one." I say summoning a Glyph on the ground that brings forth The Phantom Armor the first familiar I was ever able to summon. It immediately begins attacking Kuma making him much more manageable. Then it hits me that I haven't seen that Hebi girl in awhile. I look around but she is nowhere to be found. I don't like this. Before I have time to think about it anymore though I am forced to dodge another incoming attack from Kuma.

"You have no idea who you are messing with Schnee!" he shouts, his blood red eyes now glowing.

"Evidently you don't know who you are messing with." I say as I shoot an ice blast at him freezing his feet to the ground. The Phantom Armor then takes a swing at him, hitting him so hard he goes flying down the street and into a metal pole. I check to make sure Ruby is doing okay, the fighting between her and Allen is pretty intense but neither seems to be overtaking the other. Yang and Blake are slowly starting to lose ground dealing with the Grimm though. Not like I can blame them that is a lot of Grimm for two huntresses to take on alone. Luckily most of the civilians appear to be out of harms way for now but we need to finish this fight soon or else the risk to them will keep growing.


	6. Chapter 5

Hey guys hope you like the new chapter. :) For those of you that are interested I am holding a PC Game giveaway on the official Dotaku Fanpage on Facebook so go check that out if you wanna try and win some games. :) Enjoy!

Chapter 5 -

Ruby's POV

Honestly I knew Allen was tough just by looking at him but I didn't think he was this tough. He isn't as fast as me but his strength is definitely higher and somehow he is tracking my movements, making him able to see all of my attacks coming, which means my speed is almost irrelevant. I am managing to keep up with him but I don't know for how much longer, If it weren't for those damn Grimm than Blake or Yang could be backing Weiss and I up and we might have won by now.

"You ready to give up yet Rose?!" he shouts taking another charge at me which I manage to block but a little less effectively this time.

"Go screw yourself Allen!" I shout back before firing off Crescent Rose, using the recoil to force him away before taking a swipe at him.

"This is a fight you can't win, we have many Grimm backing us up, we are stronger, we don't tire as easily, and we aren't afraid to get people killed to win." he says pointing his Naginata at me. As he does the blade fires from the staff, attached to it by a chain covered in spikes. I barely manage to evade it. The blade recoils back into the staff, its honestly kind of cool but now isn't the time to fangirl over weapons.

"Most of that may be true, but I don't believe that you don't care about getting people killed!" I shout calling him out.

"What the hell are you talking about." he asks now sneering.

"I think part of you cares about these humans that you claim to resent." I say.

"You really must be a bit soft in the head Rose." he says chuckling.

"You clearly have an advantage over us, so why would you care if I alerted my teammates?" I ask. "You tried to stop me because you knew it would lead to a fight and Hebi suggested we leave because she didn't want a fight to happen either."

"Do you have a point?" he says agitated.

"I don't think you or Hebi for that matter are like other Grimmiore, I think you both have good in you that is hidden under prejudice and anger." I say. "Your not monsters."

"I have told you that I can't stand humanity." he says now looking pretty angry. "I have lived for a very long time and in that time I have seen countless humans slaughter each-other over everything from what god they worship to simple anger, we Grimmiore much like Grimm ARE monsters for sure but humans are far worse."

"It's like I said we humans are capable of truly..evil things but I told you most of us aren't like that!" I shout angrily. "Most of us are inherently good, we just want to live our lives with the ones we love in peace...and part of you knows that I'm sure of it."

"Okay that's it I'm done playing around." he says snapping his fingers. "Hebi make your move."

"What are you-?" I start to ask before I hear Weiss shout I turned to see her completely tied up with some kind of metal wire and two sharp points pressed against her neck. The wires are connected to Hebi's sais. "Weiss!" One of the sharp points is pressing right up against her jugular.

"What the hell?!" Weiss lets out a pained shout.

"Good girl Hebi." Kuma says walking up and smirking.

"Yeah well thanks for keeping her distracted for me." Hebi says smirking as well.

"So that's why you disappeared all of a sudden." Weiss strains to say as she struggles to break free.

"Good luck princess, the metal that I used to make this wire is far to strong for even Kuma to break loose of." Hebi says chuckling.

"BLAKE!" I hear Yang shout. I turn to see Blake kneeling over with blood pouring out of side. Yang is getting slowly over run trying to keep the Grimm off of her and Blake. I turn back around and look at Weiss who at Allen's command could be dead in seconds.

"Ruby I know you don't want your friends to die, and as much as I could care less what happens to them, their deaths would serve any purpose for us." Allen says. "Come with us willingly and we will let your friends live, I'll even throw in the villagers as an added bonus." I really didn't want to go with them especially after just being reunited with my friends...but I couldn't let them die.

"Fine...I'll go with you." I say bowing my head in defeat. "Just don't hurt anyone else."

"Ruby don't listen to him!" Weiss shouts.

"Wise choice Ruby." Allen snaps his fingers and suddenly Weiss is pricked with one of Hebi's spikes in her leg before she is dropped to the ground.

"What did you just do to her!?" I shout angrily.

"She'll be fine, that was just to temporarily paralyze so she doesn't do something foolish." he says. "Now let's go."

"Fine.." I say as I follow him towards the cart.

"Ruby...please." I hear Weiss strain to say. She barely lifts her arm up trying to reach out to me.

"I'm sorry Weiss..but this was the only way." I say finding it hard to look at her. "I'll be fine but please don't come after me, I don't want you guys to get hurt even more..."

"Ruby..I..we were supposed to be partners remember, we were supposed to go on adventures and see the world...and we still have something we need to finish talking about." she says trying even harder to reach out to me with tears in her eyes. All I could do was lean down and kiss her cheek.

"I'm so sorry Weiss." I say as I lift my hood over my head and walk away, ignoring her as she calls out to me. I get into the back of the cart with Allen and as the cart takes off I can see the Grimm slowly start to disperse. At least Allen is keeping his word...at least they will be safe. Still...I can't help but cry.

Weiss' POV -

(2 Hours Later)

I slowly open my eyes, my head was pounding, I look around to see I'm in a clinic surrounded by several other people who must've been injured in the attack..including Blake who appears to still be unconcious. I throw my legs over the side of the bed and am barely able to pull myself up. Whatever that bitch injected me with it is very potent. I walk over to Blake and sit in the chair beside her bed..I hope she'll be okay. I'm not looking forward to explaining to her boyfriend what happened. I still can't believe that we lost Ruby again, we were so close to having her back and those bastards took her away again. I touch my cheek where she kissed it...and I start to feel tears run down my face. I promised myself I wouldn't cry until we got her back but I guess I'm to much of a failure to even keep a simple promise. Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder and I turn to see Yang standing behind me with a sad yet sympathetic look on her face.

"It's not your fault Weiss...we just weren't strong enough." she says looking as if she is ready to cry.

"You don't have to try and make me feel better Yang...I was the one who was to weak, you and Blake did as well as could be expected with what you were dealing with." I clench my fingers into a fist and punch the wall. "I was to weak and because I let myself fall into a trap they forced Ruby to go with them just to save my pitiful life...I don't know who I thought I was kidding when I told myself I could get her back.." The tears are now flowing full force. Suddenly I feel myself being spun around and smacked. Before I can question what that was for Yang pulls me into a hug.

"Don't talk like that Weiss..how do you think Ruby would feel if she heard you talking about yourself like that?" she asks. "You gotta snap out of this because Ruby still needs us, we can't give up."

"You...You're right." I say wiping the tears from my face. "I am being selfish, Ruby only let herself get taken to save us, I'm not gonna pay her back by standing here and feeling sorry for myself...thank you."

"It's okay what else are friends for." she says flashing me a smile before looking at Blake and frowning. "Unfortunately Blake won't be joining us, I called Sun and he'll be here to get her in a few days, she is in no shape to help."

"She won't be happy to hear that..and that really does complicate things we are no match for these guys on our own." I say.

"True but I am not letting her get herself killed, it's like you said she's my best friend it's my job to look out for her." she says smiling. "Also it might not be just us."

"What do you mean?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"I called Ozpin and explained the situation to him, he said that with this new information he may actually be able to convince the council of Vale to get off their asses and send us backup." she says.

"Well that would certainly be welcome, we are clearly unable to handle this by ourselves." I say sitting back down.

"He said it may take a couple of days so we need to settle in here, besides that should give us some time to pay back the people of this town for getting them involved in all of this." she says stretching.

"I agree, it's the least we can do." I say nodding my head. Hopefully Ruby can wait a couple days. Whatever back up they send they had better be good because this may well end up being the fight of our lives.


	7. Chapter 6

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter XD I will be doing a Q&A video on Youtube this coming Friday so go ahead and ask whatever you want. :) Also don't forget to follow me on twitter ( viralfearmedia) and/or like the official Dotaku Facebook page if you want to be kept up to date on things because I won't be doing anymore big update posts on here XD

Chapter 6 -

(Flashback, 1 week before the Prologue)

Honestly as much as I enjoy learning I am kind of glad this next test will be the last written test of the school year. These late night studying sessions can be extremely exhausting. Maybe I should've gone with the rest of my team to JNPR's graduation party. I mean yeah I really do need to study for this test but it could've waited I guess. Before I can question my actions any further I hear the door to our room swing open and I turn to see Ruby, which made me happy at first, but something was off about her. She was wobbling and her face looked flushed. It only took me a second to realize she was drunk. I get up to help her walk to her bed which she resists.

"Ruby how did you get drunk?" I ask realizing almost immediately that she may not be able to answer me in her state. If I had to guess she must have accidentally drank something she wasn't supposed to.

"I'm not drank, how dar you, I am perfecly soober." she says slurring ever other word.

"Yeah sure, whatever you say, now let's get you over to your bed." I say helping her walk over to it. As soon as I sit her down she falls back onto it and pulls me along with her. "Ruby, what are you doing?" I ask only slightly agitated.

"I want Weissy to sleep wiff me." she says giggling and pulling me close to her.

"What are you talking about!" I shout trying to pry her off me.

"Weiss?" she asks as I give up struggling.

"What is it?" I ask resigning myself to the fact that I'm stuck here until she falls asleep.

"Do you like me?" she asks and I roll my eyes.

"Of course I do dolt, your my best friend." I answer.

"NO not that kin of like!" she shouts and looks up at me with a childish pout. "I men do you like..like me?" she asks and it only takes me a second to realize what she means, causing my face to turn bright red.

"Wh-Why are you asking me this?" I ask trying to not sound to shocked.

"Well cause.." she starts to say all of a sudden sounding really shy. "cause I like-like you."

"What?..." Was all I was able to ask.

"Weiss is relly pretty, she really fun to han out with, an she is really nice ta me." she says looking at me her eyes filled with...longing?

"Ruby your drunk and confused." I say trying to rationalize it.

"NO!" she shouts. "I know what I'm sayin, I relly like you Weiss."

"Ruby I..." before I can finish my sentence she kisses me. I am so caught off guard that I don't even know how to respond. She stops kissing me before I can make up my mind on what to do and then cuddles up against me. It doesn't take long for her to fall asleep. I can't believe she just did that I mean drunk or not I never expected her to kiss me...and what's even more shocking is that I never expect to kind of..like it.

(Present Day)

Yang and I were waiting on the outskirts of town for our reinforcements to arrive. I guess they really are taking things seriously because not only did Ozpin agree to temporarily postpone JNPR's graduation test to let them join us but Ironwood agreed to deploy a platoon of Atlesian Knights, an Atlesian Paladin, and one of their top agents to back us up. Sun already got here to pick up Blake, he is back at the INN trying to convince her to go back home since she is still stubbornly refusing to. I get that she really wants to stay and help but in her condition she would only be putting herself at risk.

"Looks like JNPR is finally here." Yang says pointing at an incoming air-ship. Nora is of course waving frantically out the side of the ship. Once the ship lands they all hop off and we explain any part of the situation they weren't filled in on already.

"I would find it hard to believe if we didn't fight one of those freaks ourselves." Jaune says.

"I agree, whatever we fought definitely wasn't human, it's not to far-fetched to think there would be more of them." Pyrrha says. "Even with all of us and the Atlas reinforcements backing us up, this is likely to be a really tough fight."

"Yeah but these guys need to be stopped and besides that, they still have Ruby." I say."This time I will get her back and no matter how powerful they are, they won't stop me."

"You said it Weiss, those bastards will pay." Yang responds slamming her fist into her palm.

"Ditto firecracker." we hear a gruff voice say behind us and we turn to see that it's Qrow.

"Uncle Qrow!" Yang says hugging him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I decided that since you two are closing in on these assholes, and I since I'm not really needed where I was, that I'd lend a hand." he responds. "Besides I heard a certain someone would be here."

"Who is that?" I ask. As soon as I do another air-ship flies over us and I immediately recognize it as Winter's ship, another Atlas ship follows closely behind. I run off towards the clearing where it begins to land, everyone else following after me. Once I reach the clearing I spot Winter exiting her ship with some Atlesian Knights behind her. A bunch of other Atlesian Knights were all unboarding the other ship with an Atlesian Paladin.

"Winter!" I call out to her as I begin running towards her. She notices me and immediately starts walking towards me. I reach my arms out to hug her but once I am close enough she just hits me in the head. "What was that for?!"

"You boob, did you even consider trying to contact me BEFORE you went on an extremely dangerous rescue mission?" she asks sounding really agitated. She had a point I did just kinda take off without really telling anyone, well except Blake and Yang obviously.

"I'm sorry..I just didn't want you to worry is all." I say.

"I always worry Weiss but it doesn't exactly help not knowing where you are." she responds using her mighty logic against me once again.

"Your right..I'm sorry." I say looking down. It doesn't take long before I feel her arms around me.

"Your forgiven, but only because I can't begin to understand how it feels to have your best friend abducted, I'm sorry you have to go through that." she says in that rare but so comforting big sister voice of hers.

"It was worth getting hit on the head to have you here Winter." I say hugging her back.

"Hey there Ice Queen." I hear Qrow call out. If it weren't for the fact that I know how he and Winter are I would think he was talking to me.

"Hello Qrow, strange seeing you here." she says breaking the hug and walking towards him.

"Yeah well I heard you'd be here so I thought I would pay you a visit." he says with a smirk.

"Of course, I trust you have cut back on the drinking like I told you." she says.

"Oh absolutely, now I am only drunk half of the time." he says with a hint of sarcasm.

"I suppose that is about all the improvement I can expect for now, but if your gonna be my husband you better clean up your act." she says now standing directly in front of him. The way they look at each other I can hardly ever tell if they want to kill each other or make out, probably both honestly...gross.

"Of course dear." he responds his voice still laced with sarcasm. She just lets out her signature 'I give up' sigh.

"What am I going to do with you." she says letting her military persona drop for a moment.

"I don't think we should talk about that in front of your sister." he says winking. Winter actually blushes which I don't think I have ever seen and she slaps him before walking away in a huff.

"What a woman." he says unfazed and follows behind her. I don't know how those two ended up together but..he seems to make Winter happy so I guess I'm okay with it. We all decide to set up our base camp just outside the treeline of the clearing. Once everything is all set up we gather around a map of the area to begin our plan.

"Okay to start with do you know where they might be located." Winter asks looking at me specifically.

"Well..since we were stuck here anyway I decided to scout outside of town a few times to see if I could pick up their scent." I say. "It seemed to me they were headed north into the mountains."

"So I decided to ask around the village about those mountains, the travelling merchants all said that no one has gone near those mountains in nearly 100 years because people had the bad tendency to go missing in those mountains." Yang adds.

"Exactly, so we figured that was the most likely place for them to be hiding out." I say trying to looks as professional and elegant as possible. I guess I'm still always trying to impress Winter.

"Very good work you two." Winter says which makes my heart swell with pride.

"So we have an idea of where they are hiding, what's the plan?" Nora asks looking at Jaune.

"Well um I have some ideas but I don't want to undermine Winter's command." Jaune responds.

"It couldn't hurt to hear you out I suppose, besides I have heard from your teachers that you are actually quite the tactician." Winter says giving him the go ahead.

"Well okay, the way I see it the mountains have winding caverns running throughout them with only two entrances here and here." he says pointing at the openings on the map. "Since we don't really know what could be waiting for us in those caverns we should have two teams of three, accompanied by at least 5 Atlesian Knights, go in through both entrances and try to force the enemy into this center cavern."

"I like it so far but what about the rest of Atlas forces and two remaining Hunters?" Qrow asks.

"We should station one Hunter along with half the remaining Atlas forces here at the rear entrance, the other Hunter will be at the much larger main entrance with the rest of the Atlas Forces including the Paladin." he says. "This should help prevent anyone from escaping and since these freaks, whatever they are, seem to be able to control Grimm it will also help keep as many Grimm as possible out of the caverns."

"That is actually a really good plan." I say honestly impressed.

"I agree, we are going with 's plan." Winter says. "Now that we have a plan everyone get some shut eye we will be heading out on the shuttles first thing in the morning, they will carry us most of the way and then we will walk the remaining way so as not to alert the enemy of our approach." We all do as we are told and head to our respective tents. I am about half way to mine when Winter walks up behind me and puts her hand on my shoulder. "Will you join me in my ship for a moment?" she asks.

"Uh, Sure Winter." I respond and follow her back to her ship. Once on board she invites me to sit down and offers me some tea which I decline.

"I figured we could just talk, it has been awhile after all." she says sitting across from me with her cup of tea.

"Of course, I would like that." I say.

"So are you doing alright?" she asks.

"As alright as I could expect to be doing I guess..I mean I'm constantly worried about Ruby." I say leaning against the table. "Sometimes...I cry when I think about her being trapped with those monsters."

"I see..I'm really sorry to hear that, I know Ruby was very important to you." she says with a sympathetic tone.

"Yeah.." I say putting my hand on my cheek. I must've been blushing because Winter gave me a slightly perplexed look. I quickly try to change the subject.

"So um, are you and Qrow doing alright?" I ask.

"He and I are doing fine, he can be frustrating at times, but he is actually a fairly sweet man when he tries to be." she says taking a drink of her tea. "Not to mention he actually helps balance me out since I can be kind of..difficult."

"I know what you mean." I say giggling softly. "Ruby is kind of like that with me."

"Weiss..this may sound odd but.. do you by any chance have feelings for her?" she asks throwing me off guard.

"Wh-wh-what are you talking about?!" I shout jumping out of my seat. I am sure my face must be bright red.

"It's just ..whenever she is brought up you either giggle or blush, not to mention your reaction just now." she responds. I don't know how to respond honestly. I sit back down with a blush still spread across my face.

"I don't know really." I say just loud enough for her to hear. "We never got the chance to really discuss it before all this happened."

"I see..well I wouldn't worry Weiss, I promise you that tomorrow we will get her back..and if you do have feelings for her than I will support you." she says. I look up at her to see she is smiling at me comfortingly. I can't help but smile back at her.

"Thank you Winter..really." I say getting up and hugging her.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 -

Ruby's POV -

I still can't believe this room they gave me to sleep in. It's way nicer than most prisoners get I imagine. A queen size bed, a sofa, and a nice bathroom. I still have no idea how they got running water down here, then again this base they have seems to have been here for a very long time so I guess they've had the opportunity to install it. I have been here for a few days already and still haven't met this 'mother' that they keep talking about. She apparently wanted to see me so badly that she had me abducted and she still keeps me waiting. Once I finish my shower I throw on the robe they gave me and lay down on the bed.

I hope Weiss listened to my warning and stays away because after seeing the kind of defenses they have here there is no way she and Yang could even make it to the compound let alone get me out. They would die trying..and I couldn't live with myself if they died trying to save me. I put my fingers to my lips thinking about my goodbye to Weiss. I never got the chance to tell her my feelings..well when I was sober anyway. I don't know when my feelings for her started to change but I know it was a gradual change. At first I thought she was just kind of an uptight jerk, then I thought of her as my best friend, then I loved her almost like a sister, then..I began loving her as a woman. I mean she has always been there for me even when we weren't getting along and I love being around her. Not to mention how beautiful and elegant she is. We almost had the chance to talk the the morning before we left for our final test but...

(Flashback)

"I knew I would find you up here." I hear Weiss say from behind me. I don't bother to look back my eyes fixated on the sky. "Why aren't you downstairs preparing with the rest of us?"

"I don't know..to distracted I guess." I respond still not looking in her direction.

"Is this about the whole everyone going their separate ways thing again?" she asks. "Like I told we will all be friends no matter what, besides you and I have already decided to remain partners after graduation."

"That's not whats bothering me." I respond feeling my face starting to heat up. "I am worried..about the other night."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asks. Though I am sure she knows what I am talking about since I caught a blush out of the corner of my eye.

"You know what I am talking about." I say. "I was drunk but not enough to forget everything, it's a little hazy but I distinctly remember saying certain things and..doing certain things."

"Oh..I see." was all she she said but I could tell she was just as troubled by it as I was. We stood in silence for a little while after that.

"Ruby listen I know that when your drunk sometimes you say and do things that..you might not mean, so if you want to pretend it never happened then.." she starts to say but I cut her off.

"I don't want to pretend it never happened!" I say a little louder than I intended. Weiss just stands there with a shocked expression and there is a long pause before she speaks up again.

"What do you mean Ruby?" she asks.

"I..Weiss I just..I lo-!" I begin to say but am cut off by Yang bursting onto the roof, making me jump out of my skin.

"Hey you two its almost time to head out!" she shouts in her usual overly energetic fashion.

"Yang, you scared the hell out of me!" I shout.

"Sorry sis but you guys really need to get down here and finish preparing." she says laughing in amusement at her own antics. She heads back down stairs and Weiss looks at me, I think hoping I will continue what I was saying.

"Tell you what..when we make it back from this mission we will continue this conversation." I say flashing her a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Are you sure?" she asks.

"Yeah, once we are full fledged Huntresses I promise to tell you how I feel." I say and she seems content with that. We head back down stairs so that we can prepare.

(Present Day)

Honestly I wish I had just told her then and there how I felt so that at least things wouldn't have been left unsaid, but how could I have known all of this would happen. Suddenly I hear the large door creek open and I look up to see Allen.

"Ruby it's time for you to meet Mother, so get dressed, I'll be waiting outside the door." he says before closing said door. I wonder what's up with him, he's usually more chipper. Not that I care, I tried to see the good in him but he proved back in that village I was very wrong. I slowly climb out of the bed and begin changing back into my normal clothes. Once I am fully dressed I open the door and walk out. Allen who is standing there waiting just motions for me to start walking down the corridor without saying a word. I do like he commands and start walking.

As we exit the corridor and enter the center of the compound I look around once more at the security in this place. They have many mounted turrets, security robots that while slightly outdated are still pretty lethal, and a bunch of what I assume to be weaker Grimmiore walking around clad in armor with guns. I assume most of these weaker Grimmiore are more recent..converts. I haven't seen the process for myself but Allen tells me that it isn't painful, I don't really trust him but..I want to believe that. They also have some 'tamed' Beowulves and Ursa walking around but there aren't that many of them. It would take a pretty strong strike force to even have any hope of breaking through these defenses. Finally we reach what the Grimmiore call the throne room. Allen opens the door and gestures for me to enter.

I slowly walk into the room and at the rear of the room I see Hebi, Kuma, and some other Grimmiore who I haven't met yet. He gives off an even darker and honestly..more terrifying aura than the others. Not to mention that perpetually sadistic look in his eyes. Sitting in the center of them all is a woman wearing a short black dress and long black gloves both accented with white. Like the rest of them she had black hair which went down to her back and blood red eyes but their was something...familiar about her eyes. I just couldn't figure it out but I feel like I have seen her somewhere before.

"Ah Miss Rose, we have a lot to talk about." the woman says motioning for me to come closer.

"Why did you have me brought here?" I ask as I begin moving towards the throne.

"Well we have a sort of proposal for you Ruby." she replies.

"Just spit it out, I have had enough of you people giving me the run around!" I shout out of frustration.

"You would do well to watch you tone!" the mystery Grimmiore shouts at me.

"Calm yourself Lucius." Mother says which appears to calm him down somewhat. "Ruby is right it is about time we told her why she is here."

"Well, I'm waiting." just wanting for her to tell me already.

"Very well, you see we Grimmiore will soon be ready to make a final push against humanity." she says leaning forward in her throne.

"Are you kidding me?" I say. "You guys might have a strong enough force to do some damage but you wouldn't last more than an hour against any of the major kingdoms in full scale warfare, let alone all of them."

"That is true but we believe we have a found a way to convert far more humans, far more quickly, we are just missing a vital piece of the puzzle" she says with a smirk. "a Maiden of Seasons."

"Good luck lady, the Maidens are not easily taken down." I respond with a smirk.

"Well we certainly are cocky aren't we?" she responds with a smirk of her own. "Tell me, have you ever met the Maidens?"

"No." I admit. "I know of them after the Fall incident and my friend Pyrrha was supposed to be one at some point but that's about it." She can't really do much with this information so I don't hesitate to share it.

"Well we recently discovered the location of one of the Maidens, the Summer Maiden" she says turning her back to me. "and we captured her."

"Wait you...you have the Summer Maiden?!" I ask legitimately shocked.

"Indeed but there is a problem, she is extremely sick and she is dying, her power has already begun to fade so she is of little use to us." she says with the first hint of frustration I have heard out of her. She also appears to shoot a death glare in the direction of Lucious who actually recoils at the sight.

"So what does any of this have to do with me?" I ask losing my patience.

"Kuma bring the Maiden." she commands. He bows before exiting through a door in the back room and returning with a woman who has been strapped to a metal cart. She looks completely unable to move. She looks...familiar as well but her eyes are covered so it's hard to identify her. "Remove the blindfold." He does as he is told and as soon as the blindfold falls to the ground the woman looks at me with..silver eyes. Suddenly a rush of emotion comes over me as I recognize this woman. She is..my mom, Summer Rose.

"M-Mom?" I ask tears starting to form in my eyes. She looks happy to see me but..refuses to look me in the eye.

"Hi Sweetie." she says. I immediately run up to her, no one surprisingly trying to stop me, I wrap my arms around her neck and hug her. I can tell she wants to hug me back but can't.

"Where have you been?" I ask between sniffles. "I thought you were dead, why didn't you come back to us?"

"I wanted to sweetie I really did, but once I became the Summer Maiden I was told I needed to remain in hiding, that I needed to stay out of the public eye." she says trying not to cry herself. "As much as it tore me apart inside that meant leaving you."

"I missed you so much..." I say hugging her tighter, only caring that she was right here in front of me.

"I miss you too." she says. "More than you know."

"Okay that is enough." Mother says snapping her fingers. As she does Allen and Lucious hold me back while Kuma starts wheeling her back into the other room.

"No!" I shout. "Let me talk to my mom!"

"Raven, I swear if you harm a single hair on her head I will make you pay!" my mom shouts as she is wheeled off. When the door closes and she is out of sight I shake off Allen and Lucious.

"What do you want from me.." I ask solemnly.

"It's like I said your mother is dying and her power is fading." she responds. "However there is still a way to get what we want, we discovered the schematics for a machine that the Atlas government appears to have been working on and have developed a way to transfer her powers into you"

"Got to hell!" I shout. "I don't give a damn about what you want, I want to see my mom!"

"Unfortunately you only have two choices here Ruby." she says in that smug tone of hers. "Either you let us transfer her powers into you and she gets to live for awhile longer or..we take our chances, kill her ourselves, and just hope the powers decide to go into you." I just stood there staring at this woman with more hate than I thought I could feel. She is making me choose between jeopardizing the safety of my friends and my mom. I just lower my gaze and my shoulders sag in defeat.

"Fine..I'll do it." I say unable to even sound angry.

"Splendid!" she says in a delighted tone. "Hebi, Kuma you two take her into the procedure room and get them both ready." They begin taking me away when suddenly an alarm starts going off. "What the hell is going on?" Right on cue two guards come running up to her and give a short bow.

"Mother, we are under attack, according to security teams Blue and Black both entrances into the caverns have been assaulted by at least 3 Hunters each, they have also been accompanied by squads of Atlesian Knights." the guard frantically explains. Weiss, she must have convinced the higher ups to send back up. I have no idea why then would dedicate that many resources to rescue me but I'm not complaining.

"Looks like you underestimated my friends lady." I say, my smug look returning to my face.

"Don't be so sure Ruby." she says looking still eerily calm. "Allen take Kuma along with at least a dozen guards and cut them off at the rear corridor."

"As you wish mother." he responds and takes off with Kuma out of the room.

"Lucious you take the rest of the guards to cut them off at the main corridor." she says and he does as he is told.

"What about me mother?" Hebi asks.

"You and I will ensure the procedure goes as planned." Mother responds and Hebi just nods.

Weiss' POV -

We all begin unboarding the vessels a few miles away from where we determined the entrance to the enemies fortress to be. We have decided to take a moment to brace ourselves then to split up from here and head to the entrances we have been assigned to. Yang, Ren, and I have been assigned to assault the front entrance while Winter guards the outside. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora are going to go in through the rear entryway way while Qrow guards the outside of that entrance. We are all a bit nervous because we know that this may end up being a very difficult fight but none of us are going to say that out loud.

"You better not get hurt while I'm not there to protect you." Nora says hugging Ren so tightly I thought we might hear his spine crack.

"I promise I'll be fine Nora, you said it yourself I'm basically a ninja." he said trying to ensure her.

"So..um I hope you don't die." Winter says to Qrow.

"I feel so loved Ice Queen." he responds chuckling.

"Shut it you dusty old crow, you know I'm not very good at this." she says to him again with that blush that only he can seem to conjure up.

"I know." he says before kissing her. "Neither am I so it's all good, you just take care of yourself alright."

"Yeah...same to you." she says as she hugs him.

Pyrrha and Jaune didn't say a word to each other. It helped that they were going in there together and could watch each others backs but that aside they just kind seemed to develop this mental telepathy after being together for so long. Yang and I just made sure to wish everyone good luck before we all took off. Once we split up and went on our way it didn't take long before we finally reached the entrance. They had two guards positioned outside the entrance, they were armed but wouldn't be much of a problem. I positioned myself near the one on the left and Ren positioned himself near the other. I gave him the signal and we pounced on them. They went down without much effort it helped that we got the jump on them.

"Okay it won't be long till they realize these guys haven't reported in so we need to get moving." I say.

"You better come out of there in one piece Weiss." Winter says putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry I will." I say turning around and hugging her. "You just stay safe out here and don't hesitate to retreat if things get to dicey."

"I think you forget Weiss that your big sister is, as Qrow would put it, a bit of a bad ass." she says with a smile. "I'll be fine and I'll keep any Grimm off your back."

"I love you Winter." I say.

"I love you too, now go you have to save your friend." she says shooing me towards the entrance. I just nod in response.

"Okay guys lets move out." I say motioning for everyone to follow me as I run inside. Yang, Ren, and the Atlesian Knights following behind me.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 -

We came to the first guard post in the tunnel. I spot two mounted turrets, a few spotlights and at least 6 guards. Taking this post out quietly is going to be a challenge. I press my hand to my earpiece and whisper to the others.

"Ren I am gonna need you to take out the two on the guard tower, you are the most agile so you should be able to handle it." I order.

"Understood." Is his only response and I spot him making a move for the blind-spot of the tower. He begins climbing up the side and so far he hasn't been spotted.

"Yang I need you to get as close as you can to the two near the gate and wait for my signal, I will take care of the ones on the overlook." I say.

"You got it boss." I notice her move into position and then make my move for the two guards on the overlook. I move from cover to cover in an attempt to avoid the spotlights. I move up the stairs keeping low so as not to alert the two. I look up the tower to see Ren sneaking up on the two guards up top. He sends a nod my direction and I nod back.

"Now." I whisper into the headset and we all make our moves. In a swift instant they are all knocked unconscious. We all take a breath before taking all their weapons and destroying them. "Good job team, that is one guard post down."

"Please they didn't stand a chance." Yang says tossing one of the guards into the pile.

"Jaune, we have made it past the first guard post, how is your team doing?" I ask into the headset.

"Well um we may have a problem." he replies back.

"What do you mean?" I ask and all of a sudden a siren sound begins blaring.

"Yeahhhh um Nora may have misinterpreted my order to 'take out the guys on the tower'." he replies.

"Dammit." I say rolling my eyes. "Maybe you should be more specific with your commands."

"Hey you try commanding someone like Nora, it's not easy." he says back.

"Um I have Yang on my team." Is all I say back.

"Oh right." he says. "Well um sorry but I gotta go it looks like reinforcements are here." As soon as he says that a bullet wizzes past my head and I duck behind cover.

"Well new plan team, it's time to go loud!" I shout.

"Finally!" Yang shouts before leaping from behind cover and charging at them.

"Well I guess it's a good thing we have the equivalent of a human tank on each team." I say watching her tear through them.

"What do we do?" Ren asks.

"Just keep them from getting the jump on Yang she can handle pushing forward." I say popping up and blasting a guard who was about to hit Yang from behind.

"Got it." He says and begins moving forward from cover to cover, taking out any stragglers along the way. I do the same and for awhile that strategy seems to be working. We move forward and push through several more guard posts. We lose a few of the Atlesian Knights along the way but most of them are still in tact.

"We are using up a bit more stamina and aura than I would've like but this seems to be working." I say. "Jaune how are you guys doing?" I ask into my headset.

"We are doing fine for the most part, like you said this may be taking up more of our energy then we expected but we should be fine as long as there are no sursdjalfkdjfl." he suddenly gets caught off by static.

"Jaune..Jaune come in!" I shout but no answer except for static. Out of nowhere Yang is tossed back, what could have done that? I peek from cover to see what I honestly hoped I wouldn't..the man from the forest.

"Well well well look who we have here, a bunch of vermin messing around in places they shouldn't be in." he says with that disgusting smirk I remember to well. Two..very large alpha beowulves appear next to him. "You know the beowulf is the most underestimated of all Grimm species they may not be the largest or most powerful but they are the fastest, the most cunning and have killed far more humans than any other type of Grimm."

"Fascinating." Yang says getting back up off the ground. "Now why don't you run along before you get neutered mutt."

"Well your mouth is just as big as the last time we met, and of all the people here you are the last one who should be calling anyone a mutt, half-breed." he remarks.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" she yells as her eyes turn red with anger.

"Don't listen to him Yang, he's just trying to mess with your head." I say standing beside her and readying Myternaster.

"Weiss is right, he is just an obstacle between us and Ruby." Ren says moving to Yangs other side. "He is outnumbered and knows it so he is playing mind games." This was followed by the most blood curdling laugh I have ever heard.

"You think I need to mess with your heads to slaughter you!" he responds, his maniacal laughter beginning to let up until it stops all together and he gives us an intense death glare. "Let me get this straight, you three are going to die here today and assuming my 'comrades' fail to kill your friends I am going for them next, then we will be using our secret weapon to wipe you vile humans from the face of the earth."

"Try it you sick fuck." Yang says cocking Ember Celica. He whistles and the two Beowulves come charging at us. Before we can even blink he is already on top of Yang, knocking her into the cave wall and if it weren't for Yang being well...Yang that blow could have been crippling. Within moments he has torn apart the remaining Atlesian Knights we had before Yang began attacking him while Ren and I deal with the Beowulves. In the meantime I keep trying to raise Jaune.

"Jaune, can you hear me!" I keep shouting into the headset and getting nothing but static.

"He must have some kind of localized jammer on him!" Ren shouts. "It would explain why coms only cut out after he arrived."

"Good call." I say pulling him over behind cover so we can get a few seconds to talk. Once I explain the plan to him I jump from behind cover and face the Beowulves on my own.

One of them takes a swipe at me but I dodge it with ease before blasting it with a huge Ice Shard. I then summon a Glyph and from it comes my familiar, The Phantom Armor. He begins attacking the other Beowulf. This Beowulf is huge and is able to stand eye to eye with my Phantom Armor but my familiar is far more powerful. It doesn't take long before he begins to overpower him. I have the other on the ropes as well.

I glance over at the fight between Yang and the Grimmiore, it appears that his speed will only take him so far, with every blow Yang receives she is getting stronger. Still she may need assistance soon. My familiar takes out the other Beowulf and begins assaulting the one I was fighting freeing me up to assist Yang.

"Good boy." I say to him before darting in Yangs direction. He was about to strike Yang from behind but I blasted him out of the way before he could.

"You okay Yang?" I ask.

"Well...I have been better." she answers while panting from exhaustion. "If I could just get him to stay still in one spot for long enough I could take him out with one good punch." I could freeze him in place but first we need...a distraction.

"Yang, Freezerburn." I order as I freeze the ground around us.

"You got it." she says, blasting the ground with a blast of heat and filling the tunnel with mist. We move into position, hiding behind whatever cover we could find.

"You really think your little smokescreen will save you!" he shouts. As the mist begins to clear I notice Ren hanging to some nearby stalactites. He sees me and nods confirming that he as located the jamming device, I nod at him giving him the okay to make his move. As soon as I do he pulls out his pistol and blasts a little metallic box on the mans belt. Lucious immediately turns but only after the device has been destroyed he does however manage to stop Ren from getting the jump on him. He grabs Ren by the throat and begind choking him. "You honestly believed that little tactic would work?" Then before he can react I freeze him to the ground with a thick sheet of ice.

"It didn't have to he just needed to keep you busy." I say.

"Damn you Schnee!" he says trying desperately the free himself. Ren kicks him in the face, freeing himself from his grasp.

"Okay I was under the impression that I was supposed to take out the jamming device and get the jump on him, what is this keep him busy nonsense?" Ren asks.

"Well that was the plan at first but then Yang and I made another plan which kinda involved you being bait." I say as apologetically as I can.

"We will be discussing this later." Ren says trying to keep his signature composure.

"Of course, now Yang, do your thing." I say pointing at Lucious.

"Gladly." she says slamming her fist into her palm and for the first time I see genuine fear in his eyes.

"No.." he almost begs.

"This is for hurting my friends, helping to kidnap my sister, and most of all MESSING UP MY HAIR!" she shouts before slamming her fist into his face as hard she can which sends him flying into a tunnel wall where a bunch of rocks fall down onto him.

"Yeah don't think he will be getting up from that one." I respond. Suddenly I hear Jaune come in over the coms.

"Weiss can you hear me!" he practically shouts.

"Yes I can hear you, what is your status?" I ask.

"Well we were attacked by two of those Grimmiore guys but we managed to take one of them out, the other retreated." he responds. "We lost all but two of the Atlesian Knights though."

"Great work, meet up with us in the central chamber, we are getting our friend back." I say.

"Damn right we are." he says closing the signal.

"Lets go guys!" I shout and we make a run for the central chamber, taking out any straggler guards along the way. I have to admit if we didn't have everyone here there is no way we would have made it this far. We barely managed to deal with that guy alone if we had to deal with all of them alone..we probably would've been dead by now.

Ruby's POV -

I'm being sat down in a big metal chair and strapped down to it. They are placing a big metal dome on my head and putting what appears to be heart rate monitors on me.

"I told you already, your wasting your time, my friends are here to put a stop to this." I say.

"I told you to not be so sure about that, this procedure is happening now." the woman named Raven responds.

"Do you think Ruby will just do your bidding if you give her my powers, how does this help you!?" Mom yells at her.

"Oh did I forget to mention what happens after the procedure?" she asks. "How rude of me, afterwards we are going to transform her into a Grimmiore."

"What!?" I shout. "That wasn't part of the deal!"

"Well to late now I'm afraid." she says with the most sinister smile ever.

"Raven if you dare harm my daughter I swear I will rip slice you in two." mom says, giving Raven a death glare.

"Summer, I am afraid that you wouldn't be able to even if you tried, you never could beat me one on one." she says to mom with a smirk.

"What about YOUR daughter Raven, don't you care that she could be killed by your goons." Mom says which seems to hit a nerve with Raven. She is quick to cover it up though.

"If she is worth enough to call herself my daughter she will know what is best and become a full Grimmiore if not then so be it." she says not looking up from the control panel. "I will not be like Cinder Fall, I will not fail The Ancient One."

"Cinder?" I ask surprised by the fact that I haven't heard her name in years. "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind." Is all she says in response.

"Mother!" I hear Allen shout as he runs into the room.

"What is it?!" she shouts back at him.

"The intruders have beaten Kuma and Lucious, they are on their way here now." he responds.

"I knew about those failures, you forget I share a link with all of you, but at least they had the dignity to stay out their and risk their lives for their mother." she says in a spiteful tone. "It seems you were to much of a spineless coward to do the same."

"I'm...sorry mother." is all he says, bowing his head in shame.

"Never mind, I will have to buy us some time." she says. "You stay with Hebi and make sure the transfer goes well."

"Yes mother.." he says as she walks out of the room.

"How could you let her talk to you like that?" I ask.

"Silence.." he says, moving over to the control panel and pressing buttons.

"How could you let her talk about your life like it means nothing!?" I shout.

"Shut Up!" he shouts back with fury in his eyes. I can tell..it's a sad anger though. "...I am beginning the transfer sequence, Hebi make sure that her vitals don't go out of whack."

"Sure thing bro..." walking over the the monitors they have hooked up to us.

"Let's do this." he says before flipping the switch and suddenly and intense, burning pain shoots through my body. It is like nothing I have ever experienced before. Mom must be experiencing the same thing judging by her screams...or are those mine?

Weiss' POV -

We finally reach the central chamber and are greeting by at least a few dozen more guards, a few mounted turrets and a huge Ursa Major. This might have been a tiny bit tricky but a moment later the rest of the team showed up and now they were pretty much done for. It didn't take us long to plow through these defenses and push our way into the very center of the compound which almost began looking like a mansion.

"That must be where they are keeping Ruby." Jaunes says, pointing to two gigantic doors.

"Right, good call." I respond. I signal for Yang and Nora to push the door open while the rest of us watch their backs. As the door creaks open I feel an intensely dark aura poor out of it. "What do you see?"

"M-Mom." Yang says in a tone so quiet I can barely hear her.

"What are you talking about?" I ask and turn to see a woman sitting on a throne at the far end of the room. She looks...just like Yang!

"Oh hell Yang, so nice of you to pay me a visit." she says standing up and beginning to walk toward us.

"What is going on, what are you doing here?" Yang asks.

"Oh didn't I tell you?" she says in a sickeningly sweet tone. "Mommy has a plan to take over the world, after all it's just what we Grimmiore do."

"You...Your a Grimmiore?" Yang asks. "but that would make me-"

"Half Grimmiore, yes." she replies bluntly. "What do you say that you give up on this hopeless fight and join Mommy's side."

"You have to be kidding." Yang replies.

"I was being serious, well mostly serious." she replies. "I knew it wouldn't be that easy, you are stubborn just like me."

"Where. Is. My. Sister?" Yang asks now clearly getting worked up.

"You are out numbered and out gunned, just give up and tell us where Ruby is being held, we have already radioed our crew outside the tunnels and they are moving in as we speak." Jaune says, attempting to negotiate. I do admire that about him, he is always trying to avoid fighting whenever possible but knows that when the time comes to fight you just gotta do what you gotta do.

"I'm afraid that is not an option, I am here to present you with two actually." she replies. "You either give up and joing us, at which time you will be turned into Grimmiore or you all will die right here by my hand."

"You seriously think you can take on all of us lady?" Nora responds with a big smirk.

"Oh no question, you see my most powerful minion was Lucious, and even he paled in comparison to me." she remarks. She has to be bluffing, if she was honestly that powerful then we would be in trouble. Even with all 6 of us it would be a struggle and it may take awhile still before Winter and Qrow arrive with backup. "So which will it be?"

"We will never betray our friend or humanity to join the likes of you." Pyrrha answers, pretty much saying what we were all thinking.

"Exactly, now give me back my sister, or I will pound you into sludge." Yang says with a huge amount of venom.

"So be it." she responds drawing her long red blade. "I hope you all are ready to meet Oum."


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 -

She charges us ridiculous speed. Not quite as fast as Lucious but close, and judging by how far back she sent Nora flying her strength more than makes up for that small speed difference.

"Nora!" Ren shouts and starts running in the direction she was hit. Yang manages to land a punch her mother blocks the hit with her blade.

"Is that all you have Yang, I'm disappointed in you." she says before kneeing Yang in the gut. She was about to slice Yang which would severely damage her Aura if it didn't cut right through it. I jumped in as fast as I could to block the hit with Myrtenaster. If it wasn't for my glyph holding me in place the hit would've sent me flying. She wasn't kidding, her power is insane. We need to buy time before Winter and Qrow can get here, with them we could stand a chance. I reflect her hit and jump out of the way as often as I can.

"Hey crazy, how about you take us on!" I hear Jaune shout. I look over to see that him and Pyrrha are moving into their Invulnerable Shield formation. That could work, if they get her worked up enough they can hold her off while Yang, Nora, and my Phantom Armor come at her with all the brute force they can muster, Ren and I can just assist from a distance. That could buy us enough time.

"Gladly." Is all she says before taking a charge at them. She starts swinging hit after hit but despite a few close calls is having trouble piercing their defense. I take advantage of this opportunity to summon my Phantom Armor and sick it on her.

"Yang, Nora, my Phantom Armor will back you guys up while you guys just unleash all your strength on her, if you begin to tire swap out with Jaune and Pyrrha, Ren and I will use long range attacks." I say into my headset.

"Got it!" Yang and Nora shout at the same time, charging at her with fury in their eyes.

"Ren I am assuming you heard that?" I ask.

"Loud and clear, lets give them some cover." he replies taking potshots at her with his pistols. I fire off some elemental blasts and some special glyphs, like my time slowing glyph, to help give them a bit of an advantage. It's as I suspected there is no way we would win with just the six of us, this strategy is working as a time savor but Yang and Nora despite the backup from my Armor are unable to do any substantial damage, not to mention the fact that Jaune and Pyrrha will eventually tire and be unable to hold her off. If Qrow and Winter don't get here soon we'll be in serious trouble.

This continues on for at least another good 15 minutes. Jaune and Pyrrha are really getting tired at this point, Nora and Yang's Aura is dropping to dangerously low levels as well but Raven appears to be barely affected. Just when I feel like we might be done for I rocket comes flying towards Raven forcing her to dodge. I follow the smoke trail with my eyes and see not only Winter and Qrow but the remaining half of the Atlesian Knights and the Atlesian Paladin. Now this should be an actual fight, one we have a fair chance of winning.

"Raven...I had a strong feeling you were behind this, so this is why you went completely dark a few years ago." Qrow says giving the woman a look of scorn.

"Oh hello brother, how have you been?" she asks.

"Oh shut up, just give me back my niece now." he says. The rest of us begin joining their side making a formation to emphasize what she was now up against.

"So I see you actually decided to shack up with the Ice Queen there, have you no shame brother." she says merely to taunt him. Both Winter and I begin to tell her off but to our surprise Qrow beat us to it.

"You shut your mouth about her at least she has the dignity and pride to stand by her loved ones, unlike you, you traitorous freak!" he shouts at her. I smile, proud of him for sticking up for Winter. Winter seems to be blushing a bit but doesn't let her face change from a serious expression. "You abandoned me your brother, your husband who loved you to death, and your daughter who had to grow up not knowing who her real mother was all because you couldn't give all this up!" She seems to, for the first time, be visibly shaken by his words. She looks almost perplexed...sad even like she has no idea what to say but that look is quickly replaced by a sinister one.

"You think that even with all of you together that you can stop what is happening here." she says in a cold tone. "Today will mark the beginning of the end for humanity, and there is nothing you pathetic fools can do to stop it." Suddenly Qrow makes a charge for her. Winter follows after her sword unsheathed in a fraction of a second. Raven dodges Qrows swipe but is blown away by Winter's. She is then assaulted by a huge stream of shots from the Atlesian Knights and Paladin. She might have been able to dodge them if not for having to dodge Qrow and Winters attacks as well for the blasts being unleashed by the rest of us.

We are all giving it everything we have and with all our power combined we finally begin to overpower her. Then she takes a direct hit from the Atlesian Paladins RPG and is knocked to the ground. Her aura appears nearly completely depleted. Qrow walks up to her and presses the tip of his blade to her throat.

"It's over Raven." he says in a solemn tone. She replies with furious eyes before they are suddenly replaced by the eyes of a victor.

"Your to late." she says with a smirk spread across her face.

"What are you talking about?!" Qrow shouts before he is forced to block and incoming high caliber shot. We all look to where the shot came from only to be stunned by what we saw. Ruby was standing there only her hair was pitch black and her eyes were blood red.

"No..you didn't." I say falling to my knees.

"Sorry Weiss but they did." Ruby says twirling her scythe with one finger. "Gotta admit this is kinda cool."

"Glad you decided to join us Ruby." Raven says standing up and walking up to her.

"Sorry for the delay Mother, it took awhile for the transformation to settle." she says. "Ooh look what else I can do." Ruby says before crossing her arms and thrusting them forward, unleashing a torrent of flame upon us. We all barely manage to get out of the way in time.

"Is that what I think it is?" Qrow asks.

"Yes, it is one of the powers of the Summer Maiden, but how did Ruby-" Raven cuts Winter off.

"It was simple actually, we just had to transfer the powers from her mother into her, then we turn her into a Grimmiore and boom the doom of mankind is born." Raven explains with a delighted grin on her face.

"You honestly think that the other Maidens won't try to stop her?" Qrow responds.

"By the time the other Maidens are made aware, we will have captured and turned thousands of humans, it will be to late." Raven responds.

"Ruby..don't you recognize me sis?" Yang asks stepping towards her.

"Of course I do." Ruby answers which seems to give Yang momentary hope until a sinister smirk spreads across Ruby's face. "Your the sister who allowed me to be captured and wasn't strong enough to get me back, seems like you really messed up this time Yang."

"No...Ruby I tried I really did." Yang says with tears forming in her eyes.

"Whatever you still failed and unfortunately for you the Ruby you knew is dead." Ruby says with little caring for the cruel words coming out of her mouth. The tears are now full on flowing from Yangs eyes. Out of no where Ruby is forced to dodge a shot that was fired by Qrow of all people.

"I don't know about dead, but the Ruby we know certainly isn't here right now, so I guess I'll have to kick your ass until you give her back." he says transforming his sword in scythe form. This seems to snap Yang out of it who, after wiping her eyes, stands at Qrows side.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." she says cocking Ember Celica. I get back on my feet, ashamed of myself for giving in to my despair even for a moment, this isn't over until either we get Ruby back or...either side dies. After brief moment of hesitation we charge at each-other. I take a swipe at Ruby only to be almost sliced in half by her Scythe. She was fast before but now with that Grimmiore blood in her, her speed could rival that Lucious guy.

Even with all of us attacking at once we barely managed to level the playing field. After all Raven was bad enough but now we had a Summer Maiden Ruby, who was all pumped up with Grimmiore blood. It became increasingly clear that Ruby was playing for keeps as well, not hesitating to attempt killing us every chance she got. It took every ounce of strength I had to not break down in tears at the sight of what Ruby had become..

"Dammit, if only I had inherited the Winter Maidens powers!..." Winter says with a look of frustration upon her face.

"What do you mean?!" I ask.

"The Winter Maiden recently passed on, she went peacefully in her sleep...and we have been looking for the one who replaced her ever since, I thought it was me at first but unfortunately that was not the case!" she answers.

"Winter had been her escort so they got to be pretty close friends, but when we found out it wasn't her we checked with all of those who she used to be close to , none of them were a match!" Qrow adds while also trying to hold off Ruby's attacks.

"Can't we call for more reinforcements?!" I ask to no one in-particular.

"I tried, our short range radios work but the signal to our scrolls can't get this deep underground especially with how far out from any of the kingdoms we are!" Jaune shouts just barely managing to block an attack from Raven with Pyrrhas help.

So we are in this alone huh...fine then! I take a charge at Ruby which she manages to dodge with relative ease. I'm not deterred though and I am going at her with everything I have.

"Wow looks like Weissy is all fired up!" she shouts with glee.

"Shut up!" I shout in anger, taking another swipe at her. That one was much closer to a hit. "Give me back my friend!"

"Ah what's wrong, you don't like the new me Weissy." she comes at me again but this time she gets so close my face is inches away from hers. In any other situation I might like that but right now it just pisses me off. I slash at her again, this time as soon as she dodges I put a glyph on the floor right where she is going to land. She lands on it and her feet are locked to the ground. I cheer for a moment but she shoots the ground near her feet, using the recoil to blast off of my glyph. She then blasts behind her which sends her flying at me and she kicks me in the stomach, knocking me into the wall. It hurts like I hell but then I notice Winter about to charge her.

"Stop!" I shout which causes her to come to a halt and give me a look of confusion. "She is mine." I say with as much determination as I can muster.

"Weiss she is to powerful, you need our help!" Winter shouts back.

"Winter, I'm not discussing this, I have to be the one to beat her!" I shout, trying to get her to understand. Ruby seems to be taking amusement in our discussion which explains why she hasn't attacked yet. "I need this." After a moment of hesitation she nods.

"Everyone focus your attention on Raven, keep her off Weiss!" Winter shouts and everyone reluctantly complies. "If you die, I will never forgive you."

"I won't." I say glaring at Ruby.

"I wouldn't be so sure Weissy, after all your just some B-Class mortal huntress, I am a bad ass Huntress Grimmiore with awesome flame powers." she says, emphasizing her point by conjuring a ball of fire in her hands.

"All you are is a barrier between me and someone I care deeply for." I say getting into battle stance. "I will knock you down and get MY Ruby back."

"Alright then, bring it!" Ruby shouts charging at me and shooting fire from her hand. I dodge but as soon as I do she fires Crescent Rose at me, luckily I manage to create a time dilation glyph at the last second, freezing her bullets right in front of my face. They fall to the ground as soon as I lower the glyph. Afterwards I barely manage to dodge a swipe from Crescent Rose's blade.

"You can't keep playing the dodging game Weissy, we both know you'll run out of stamina long before me!" she playfully shouts. She is right, I need to try and find an opening soon.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 -

For the next few minutes, our battle plays out the same. She attacks, I dodge and try to look for an opening in her defenses. She is cocky and arrogant which means she is bound to make a mistake at some point.

"Why don't you just give up Weissy, we both know you can't win." she says with a snarky grin.

"Ruby I know your in there!" I shout, completely ignoring this Ruby. "Don't worry I will get you back soon!"

"Don't make me lau-" she starts to say but then grabs her head for a brief moment, almost as if she was in pain. "What the hell was that?" Could it be...that our Ruby isn't completely buried in her subconscious yet? We can still reach her with words?!

"Ruby, please come back to us!" I shout even louder. "Yang misses you, Qrow misses you, our friends miss you!...I miss you!"

"Have you completely lost your min- AHH!" she shouts grabbing her head, the pain obviously more intense this time. "Weiss, I can...hear you, you can't let me...hurt anyone please!" Our Ruby strains to say, the evil Ruby fighting for control. Honestly just knowing she isn't completely gone is enough to bring tears to my eyes, but I have to stay focused. "Dammit get back into our brain and stay there!" I take advantage of her distracted state and charge at her, making sure my blow isn't lethal but just strong enough to majorly bring down her aura. Just as my blade is about to make contact however it's blocked by someone I really didn't want to see right now, Allen.

"Dammit get the hell out of my way!" I shout out of pure frustration. I almost had her.

"Sorry Weiss, but that won't be necessary." he says before turning around and with all the strength he can muster, slams Ruby upside the head, knocking her unconscious.

"You...helped, but why?" I ask.

"Ruby gave me a lot to think about, and I've decided that...maybe not all humans are assholes." he says. "At least Ruby for sure isn't...not to mention my new companion also helped 'talk' some sense into me."

"What companion?" I ask before I notice another person enter through a door behind the throne. She looks a lot like Ruby only much older and with longer hair. She comes running up to us.

"Did you have to be so rough with her?" the woman asks.

"Sorry Summer, it was necessary." he says.

"What the hell are you doing Allen?!" Raven shouts in rage, while also trying to hold off attacks from Qrow and Winter.

"Sorry 'Mother' but Ruby made me realize something else, that my life is more valuable than the useless pawn you make me out to be, I am DONE taking orders from you!" he shouts.

"Why you insolent little-!" before she can finish she is knocked into a wall and is then knocked unconcious. Looks like even she has her limit. Yang after stopping to take a well deserved breath notices the woman standing with us and her eyes widen in shock. Did she know her?

"Summer?" she asks.

"Hey there my little ball of sunshine." Summer says with a smile.

"So it's true..you really are alive." Yang says walking up to her with tears in her eyes.

"Yes..Yang I-" Summer starts before getting cut off.

"How could you just leave us!?" Yang shouts. "Do you know how torn up Ruby and Dad were..how torn up I was?!"

"Yang.." again she gets cut off.

"Dad just shut down, he couldn't handle it, and Ruby...she didn't know how to handle it." Yang says, now crying. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to have to hide my pain for Ruby's sake...to have to be her mom and her sister?" This time Summer doesn't even try to speak, instead she just hugs Yang and lets her release all her emotions. No one else dared speak up and interrupt this moment. "Did you leave because you didn't care...like Mom?"

"No sweetie, that isn't even slightly true." she says. "I love your Dad, I love Ruby, and I love you like you are my own...I left because I thought it was what was best for the world...I was trying to play hero again and save everyone but I was wrong, I'm so sorry Yang." Now Yang is hugging her back.

"I love you too..." she says. After a solid few minutes Allen interrupts with a sense of urgency.

"I really hate to interrupt but it may be best to grab Ruby and Mo-..Raven, we need to get them somewhere where they can't do any damage before they wake up." he says walking toward the entrance.

"What make you think we will just forgive you for helping get Ruby into this mess in the first place!" Yang shouts, her eyes red with anger. It was a fair point, a good chunk of this was his fault to begin with, change of heart or not.

"Fine." he says before turning around and putting his hands behind his back.

"What are you doing?" Yang asks.

"Tie me up and bring me in as a prisoner, I am a criminal after all..hell beat the shit out of me if you want, but we don't have time to discuss it now, I set the reactor in the lab to blow before I showed up which means we have about 20 minutes to get out of these caves." he says with total seriousness and even some remorse in the beginning.

"Yang, it's okay, I believe we can trust him." Summer says vouching for him.

"Fine, but you try anything I swear you'll regret it!" Yang says, after a moment of hesitation, obviously still pretty pissed. Ren and Jaune are the ones who tie him up and end up escorting him to make sure he behaves. Yang carries the unconscious Ruby, whose hands we cuffed as a precaution. Qrow carried Raven whose hands AND feet were cuffed as well.

We moved as fast as we could to evacuate the caverns before the reactor blew. As we neared the surface, Winter used her scroll to contact the pilot of the ship we came in on and told him to get over to the entrance of the cavern asap. We tried warning a lot of guards on our way out but most of them wouldn't listen and instead just tried their hardest to kill us on the way out.

Once we emerged and felt the warmth of the sun on our skin we felt somewhat safer but we still needed to get as far away from this mountain as we could just to be safe. It doesn't take more than a minute for the ship to get here but it seems like an eternity.

Once it lands we all begin boarding as fast we can, the pilot seems nervous having this many people on board because lets face it we are probably exceeding the capacity limit but he seems to understand the urgency at least. We take off and manage to get fairly far away before the reactor blows and lets just say...it is a good thing we got away from that in time, unfortunately a lot of people didn't.

"Take us to Earth's Pillar it is the closest Atlas military installation I know of, we all need rest and we need someplace secure to lock up the prisoners." Winter says to the pilot who just nods in confirmation.

"What are we going to do about Ruby?" I ask looking over at the still unconscious girl.

"There has got to be some way to cure this right?" Yang asks.

"There isn't." Allen replies bluntly.

"What do you mean there isn't?" Jaune asks.

"Exactly what you think I mean, there is no way to cure the transformation into a Grimmiore, once your turned that is all there is to it." he says.

"So...she is just going to be a crazy monster forever?" I ask on the verge of tears.

"If by that you mean will she always be a Grimmiore, then yes." he replies. "However if her original self is still able to break through like it did back at the caverns then..she may be able to return to her original mental state."

"So even if she is still a Grimmiore she can still go back to being our Ruby?" Yang asks with some hope in her voice.

"It's only a theory, since as far as I know I am the only Grimmiore to change sides but...I think it is possible." he says. "It won't be easy though, we Grimmiore have an inherent hatred of your kind that isn't easy to suppress, even now I still don't fully trust any of you then again I also had the privilege of listening to years of Moth- I mean Raven's anti-human propaganda so that didn't help."

"Hey Uncle Qrow...did you know she was a Grimmiore?" Yang asks.

"Yeah sort of...it happened when we were kids, we were playing in the forest near our village and when she wandered off a little to far from our usual spot she was attacked by some strange Grimm I haven't seen before or since, it took her away and when we did finally find her she had blood red eyes and a much darker aura." he explains. "At the time we didn't know what had happened exactly but we knew she had been changed, our parents tried their best to keep her safe though, they even moved us to a new town so nobody knew us."

"Did she ever say, why she left?" Yang asks, this time to no one in particular.

"She never talked much about her life before she found us, most of us were shunned as freaks and monsters from any human villages we tried to approach...some of us had it worse than others, but then she came along, she was younger than any of us but she was far more powerful." he says. "She only said she wished to give us a home...a family, somewhere where we would belong, afterwards she began talking about how we would wipe out humans and turn the world into a safe place for our kind...and up until recently I was more than okay with that idea, I loved it."

"What changed then?" I asked.

"I don't know really...the more time I spent with Ruby, the more old ideas that I thought were long dead started to resurface, like that 'humans can't all be that bad.' or 'what if we tried working together?'." he says. "I hadn't thought like that since I first became a Grimmiore and that was...a long time ago, but even now my dark thoughts aren't completely gone, I still have an urge to kill even if it is buried deep down inside."

"So how can we trust you?" Yang asks.

"You can't..at least not yet and not fully." he answers honestly. "Don't turn your back on me for now, my human side is fighting to regain control of my body, but my evil side is still in there and will never fully go away but...I feel like it can be the one calling the shots again."

"We are nearing Earth's Pillar, everyone please remain seated during descent." the pilot informs us. It doesn't take long before we have landed inside the base. I have heard of Earth's Pillar but never seen it myself, it is supposed to be the largest Atlas military base, nearly impenetrable not to mention massive and now that I look around for myself the stories do not lie. As we are exiting the landing pad I spot General Ironwood.

"Qrow, Winter I'm glad to see you are both safe." he says with a warm smile.

"Thank you sir." she says with a salute.

"Yeah yeah it's great to see you too Jimmy, but we have two prisoners that need to be locked up immediately, and we need to talk." Qrow says.

"Very well, have your um" he looks back at us. "team, transport the prisoners to our holding cells, we can chat in the war room. "

"You heard him, you all take Raven and Ruby to the brig, we need to have a chat with the General." Qrow says to us.

"You two" Winter says to two soldiers. "Show them the way to the holding cells."

"Yes ma'am." they both answer before prompting us to follow them. We walk inside and it seems to take forever before we arrive. This place is so big it would probably take over an hour to get from one end to the other on foot. The cells appear to be made of some kind of bullet proof fiberglass encased in steel bars as a precaution. They also have auto-turrets locked in on the cells.

"I feel bad throwing Ruby in a cell." Nora says.

"I do too trust me...but we can't risk it." I say, looking at Ruby laying on the cell floor. When she is asleep she looks just like cute, innocent Ruby. I never really took the time to notice before but she really has become very pretty, she has always been cute but she has matured into a beautiful woman. As everyone else begins to leave, whether to get some rest, grab a bite to eat, or get some medical attention I just sit down right in front of the cell and put my hand on the glass. "Ruby...please come back to me, I have something I need to tell you."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 -

Ruby's POV -

"You are such a worthless pain." the evil me says.

"Shut up, I was just stopping you from hurting my friends." I respond.

"It is only a matter of time before we wake back up and when we do I am going to slaughter each and every one of them, there is nothing you can do about it, so stop interfering." she says.

"I will continue to fight you for control of this body as long as I can...and if it comes to it I hope Weiss runs us through, at least that will put an end to you." I say back.

"To bad I have to kill her because that Weiss girl is pretty hot, don't you think?" she asks, a smirk spreading across her face.

"Wh-wh-what are you talking about?!" I shout trying not to blush.

"Oh save it, I am you remember, I can tell you want some of that." she says.

"Shut up!" I shout. "How I feel about Weiss is none of your business!"

"Whatever, all I know is I bet you wish you had made your move before all this happened, to bad your a coward." she says laying back with her hand behind her head

"I said shut up!" I shout, covering my ears with my hands. "Even if I had told her how I felt..what good would it have done."

Weiss' POV -

I slowly struggle to open my eyes. I stretch to give my muscles a jump start as I look around at the room I am in, I must have fallen asleep next to Ruby's cell. I look over to the neighboring cell to see that Raven has woken up.

"Oh look the little Ice Princess is awake." she says with a fairly disinterested face.

"Shut up, no one likes a sore loser Raven." I say, getting back onto my feet.

"I may not have won, but I wouldn't say you have either." she says. "Our favorite little Rose is still my minion, and it is only a matter of time before we get out of here."

"Yeah well we are working on that and you aren't going anywhere, this is the most heavily guarded fortress in the world, you couldn't find a harder to escape prison if you tried." I say disregarding her threat.

"Whatever you say." she says, seemingly unfazed.

"Ugh my head." I hear Ruby's voice say. I look over to see her slowly crawling into a seated position.

"Hey Ruby..." I say hoping to be talking to my Ruby. She looks up at me with surprise and then the exact smirk I was hoping not to see spreads across her face.

"Hey there, mind letting me out of this cell?" she asks.

"Forget it, your not the Ruby I was hoping for." I say before sitting down on a chair adjacent to the cells.

"Aw how mean, I thought we were friends." she says with an exaggerated pout.

"I'm friends with the real Ruby, not some fake." I say.

"Oh I'm all real baby." she says standing up."If you don't believe me you could always come feel me for yourself."

"Excuse me!?" I shout, trying to hide the blush that is rising to my face.

"Judging by that reaction, I would say you have the same opinion of her as we do you." she says looking as though she is undressing me with her eyes.

"I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about!" I shout.

"Weiss, your needed in the War Room, we are calling a meeting." Winter says from the doorway.

"Understood." I say, bolting out of the chair, taking the first opportunity I have to leave. I follow close behind Winter and after a bit of walking we finally enter the War Room. This room is really big, the walls are covered in monitors that are streaming constant Intel and video feeds from around the area. In the center is a huge hologram table with a map of Remnant on it.

"Ah good now that all the leaders are here we can begin." Ironwood says.

"Leader?" I ask.

"Well you see Weiss, since Ruby is currently...out of commission, you have been promoted to temporary leader of team RWBY." Jaune answers.

"Oh I see..." I say.

"Yeah Blake and I decided you would be the best choice." Yang says. I turn around to see Yang and Blake standing there.

"Blake!" I shout before running to hug her. "Its great to see you've made a full recovery."

"Thank you Weiss, I asked to rejoin you guys as soon as I was able, so they flew me out here as soon as word had been sent that you were here." she says, explaining how she managed to get here so fast.

"I'm glad, we need all the help we can get, besides...it's great to see you." I say.

"Yeah, you too." she responds.

"I hate to interrupt but we do have a meeting to get to." Ironwood says.

"Right, sorry sir." I say as me and the rest of my team walk up to the table.

"Okay so first off, I want to congratulate you all for taking out a very important enemy stronghold, all the Intel I have gathered suggests it was the center of their operations so now they will be scattered and uncoordinated." he says. "That being said, there may still be plenty of small fry Grimmiore out there and maybe even some of the more powerful ones like you faced."

"Your general is correct." Allen says, he is tied to a chair since he is still a prisoner but was allowed to be a part of this meeting because of what he might know. "There are plenty of smaller encampments scattered around Remnant, not to mention a few smaller strongholds that are being headed by B-Class Grimmiore and even A-Class Grimmiore like myself."

"Would I be correct in assuming you know how to find some of these encampments and strongholds?" I ask.

"Of course, I know the locations of pretty much all of them, as well as Intel on the Grimmiore running them I was one of Raven's favorites after all." he says. "Kuma, Hebi, Lucious, and I were the four most powerful A-Class Grimmiore around so she kept us at her side, though I would argue Lucious was borderline S-Class."

"Fascinating, we didn't ask for your life story, only if you knew or not." Yang says in a agitated tone. I guess she still doesn't like Allen at all, not that I can blame her, I am still pretty upset with him myself but he seems to at least want to try and make up for what he has done.

"Okay now with all that being said I am officially commencing operation Grimm Cleansing, we are going to systematically and quickly wipe out every remaining stronghold and encampment in Remnant." Ironwood says. "Before we do though an operation of this size will take a long time, maybe months not to mention how dangerous it will be, so if anyone wants to back out you may want to do it now." No one speaks up, I knew that no one here would want to back out. Ironwood just smiles in approval. "Okay now one last thing before we close this meeting, this operation needs more people, I am prepared to take recommendations for any teams or individuals that you think would be a good fit."

"I would like to recommend Team SSSN and Team CFVY for this mission." Jaune says. They would probably be a big help though I am not really looking forward to seeing Neptune. He is a great guy and all but he has become how Jaune used to be, he won't give up on me. Though judging by Blakes face I'd say she likes that idea.

"I'd like to second that recommendation." I say to which Blake responds with a grateful look.

"Very well I will petition Team SSSN's headmaster, I am sure he will agree, especially since they are practically graduates already and I will send out a Mission Request to TEAM CFVY." Ironwood says. "Anyone else?" Yang whispers something in my ear, I give her a suspicious look but then she just puts her hands together in a begging motion.

"I would like to recommend Neopolitan, specifically as our temporary fourth team member." I say.

"Why her, isn't she just a Mercenary." Ironwood asks. "Not a very savory one at that."

"Well yeah but..." I start to say before Qrow cuts me off.

"She may not be the most..pleasant person ever but she is very skilled at what she does so I think she'd be an asset, not to mention my Niece has a crush on her so I second that recommendation." he says.

"Uncle Qrow!" Yang shouts in protest.

"I really don't see how that last part is important to anything but very well, I will send out a Mission Request to her." Ironwood says. "That is all we need to discuss for now, we will hold another meeting in a few days when the other teams arrive, until then you have free time to do what you please so long as you don't leave Earth's Pillar dismissed."

Once the meeting ends Yang and Blake decide to go grab some food. I tell them I will join them later, I feel the need to go check on Ruby really quick. After I finally reach the holding cells I walk inside to see Penny..well technically Penny 2.0, kneeling in front of Ruby's cell.

"Penny, good to see you." I say with a smile.

"Oh salutations Weiss!" she shouts before hugging me.

"I didn't know you were here Penny." I struggle to say, getting choked by her hug slightly.

"I was just transferred here, the General thinks I could be useful for the mission." she says with her signature bright smile.

"Would you just get her out of here!" Ruby shouts. "Annoying bucket of bolts won't stop asking where the other Ruby is!"

"You shut it." I say, disappointed to see that she is still evil Ruby.

"Weiss..the nice Ruby is gonna come back right?" Penny asks.

"Trust me Penny, we are gonna get her back and we won't ever have to deal with that jerk ever again." I say, determined to get my Ruby back.

"Okay then it's a promise." Penny says, smiling as she holds up her pinky. I imagine it is to pinky swear, seems kind of childish but if it makes her feel better. I reach my hand out and wrap my pinky around Penny's, shaking our hands up and down.

"Well I am gonna go get some food." I say.

"I don't eat but can I join you anyway?" she asks.

"Sure, come one." I say walking out of the room with Penny following behind me.

"Thank Oum!" evil Ruby shouts. "Leave already!"


	13. Chapter 12

Wow so that last episode...just wow. Alot of sad stuff :( you may notice that as new canon information becomes available I try to fit my story around it somewhat but unfortunately I am in way to deep to fit the whole silver eyes thing in not to mention the whole Pyrrha being dead thing ^^' That is unless I did a complete re-write which I am open to if enough people request it but otherwise I'll just stick to the story as it is. Enjoy the new chapter :)

Chapter 12 -

(A Week Later)

"I'm in position." Blake says into her ear piece.

"Very good, on my mark we attack." I say. After a few moments of waiting for the enemy to get into position I make the call. "Now!" They are fairly quick to respond but not quick enough. They barely manage to get a few shots off before we are on top of them. I take out the two guys near the mobile armory. Yang and Neo completely wipe out most of them and Blake takes out the nearby snipers from their perches. This makes the twelfth Grimmiore encampment we have taken out in two days. "Sun have you guys managed to take out the camp on the other side of the ridge?" I ask into my ear piece.

"You bet we did, these chumps didn't even know what hit them." he says in his usually cocky tone.

"Great, Winter has ordered us back to camp as soon as we finished so-" I start before I am cut off.

"Hold on Weiss...um Neptune wants to know why he can't sync up with your ear piece." Sun says.

"Im uh not sure." I lie, knowing full well I blocked out his frequency. "Anyway we'll meet you back at camp." I look over to see Yang piling up any surviving Grimmiore into the back of a cart to take as prisoners. Then I notice Neo rifling through their pockets and taking any money she can find. "Neo knock it off, we aren't here to rob people, besides your getting paid for this mission so why do you even need it?" She rolls her eyes before pulling out her scroll and sending Yang a message.

"Um she says, 'Chill out Ice Princess I am only stealing back their ill gotten gains and it doesn't matter why I need it I just do'." Yang says reading the message word for word as always.

"Neo I am not in the mood to argue, besides we have orders to give all enemy possessions over to Atlas." I say. She responds but letting out an annoyed grunt before tossing the wallets into the cart. She starts walking back towards base camp but stops momentarily and looks back at Yang, motioning for to follow and winking. Yang blushes but follows after without question. Honestly I never expected Yang to be submissive and if it was anyone but Neo she probably wouldn't be, I kinda wish those two would get a room though. How did they go from wanting to kill each other to just plain old wanting each other? Blake and I exchange a look that says we are thinking the same thing before beginning our walk back to base camp ourselves.

(A half hour later)

Back at base camp it appears we got here before team SSSN and the Soldiers we brought with us are running their drills. I make my way for my tent to rest for a bit but I hear Winter calling me from the main tent.

"Weiss, a word please!" Winter calls out.

"Sure thing!" I shout back, kind of disappointed since I was looking forward to a nap. I walk over and pop into the tent. "Yes sister?"

"First of all when we are a mission I am ma'am." she responds. "I am your field commander after all."

"Right sorry ma'am." I respond just grateful she doesn't seem annoyed.

"On a slightly more important note, why have you been blocking Neptune's frequency?" she asks.

"What do you mean?" I lie. Pretty badly, honestly I have never been good at lying to Winter.

"Don't play dumb with me, I know these earpieces don't just randomly block out other peoples frequencies it has to be done either manually or from mainframe they are all connected to, I know I didn't block him from contacting you so that just leaves you." she says. My sister is to smart for my own good.

"Okay I admit it, sorry." I say my shoulders sagging in a defeated fashion. "I just...get tired of him hitting on me is all."

"I suppose that is fair enough, I will have a talk with him later, but you can't be blocking people out what if he had something important to say?" she asks.

"Your right, I'm sorry, it won't happen again." I answer.

"Good, now with that out of the way, I have received a status update on Ruby's condition." she says.

"Really?" I ask. "What is it?"

"Well it appears that your Ruby is fighting even harder to regain control of her body." she says. "During question she will sometimes force her way through the evil Ruby and answer, especially if she is questioned directly, it especially seems effective if it is someone close to her like her Mom."

"I see, I knew Ruby wouldn't give in to her evil self without a fight." I say.

"That being said there is some bad news." she says which makes my heart sink a little. "It would appear that evil Ruby is getting more and more restless, according to Allen Grimmiore are inherently blood thirsty but it can be controlled, however all that extra power Ruby has inside her due to also being the Summer Maiden seems to be making it worse so they have decided until a solution is found she is to dangerous to be allowed out of her cell at all even in restraints."

"Oh...I see." I say, feeling really bad for Ruby.

"I figured you would want to know, please fill in Yang for me." she says. "For now you are dismissed."

"Yes ma'am." I say, saluting her before walking out. Ruby..I hope you'll be okay.

Ruby's POV -

"I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE, I NEED TO KILL SOMETHING!" the evil me is shouting inside our head. They finally got her to sleep with enough sedative. Though it probably won't last long.

"There is no way you are getting out of that cell, so just chill out before you give us both a headache." I say.

"You shut the hell up!" she responds. "If it wasn't for you interrupting during my fight with Weiss, I would have killed her and everyone else there then I would be out on my rampage by now!"

"I told you I won't let you hurt anyone especially not the ones I care about and that includes Weiss." I say not in the mood to get into a shouting match.

"You don't have a strong enough will to overpower my blood-lust, when I get out of here I will kill them all and there is nothing you can do about it!" she responds become more angry. She is usually pretty calm and collected. She's always a jerk yeah but at least she's calm about it, she must really be losing it. It seems like our body is waking up.

"Ruby...Ruby dear can you hear me?" I hear my Mom ask and I rush to try and take control of my body.

"Mom...is that you?" I ask.

"Yes, Yes Ruby it's me." she says looking exhausted. From what little I have seen through the my eyes when evil me isn't clouding them with hate, she has been watching over us for days on end.

"Mom, I don't have long before she takes back control, please tell my team that I will be coming back to them soon and tell Weiss..I have something important to tell her when I get back." I request.

"I will sweetie I promise." she says.

"There is one more thing...and your not gonna like it." I say.

"What is it?" she asks.

"I don't plan on losing to her but in case I do...you also have to promise that if it comes to it and I am putting anyones life in danger...that you will kill me." I say.

"Sweetie I-" she starts.

"You have to promise!" I shout. "Like I said I don't plan on losing but..if I do I don't want the evil me to kill anyone..."

"..Okay I promise Ruby." she says. "I love you so much sweetie."

"Thank you..I love too M-" I start to say before I can feel her ripping control of our body away. "Augh!"

"Ruby!?" Mom shouts pressing her hands against the cell.

"Your Ruby isn't here Mommy!" the evil me shouts which causes my mom to reel back slightly before sitting back down in the chair. "Whats the matter don't feel like talking!?"

"I do, but only to my Ruby, you are just some monster I have interest in talking to." she responds. "I better go report to the medical team that your awake." she says before getting up and walking out of the room. Enjoy being in control while you can...I am taking back my body!

Weiss' POV -

I have checked all around camp and still can't find Yang. She must've wandered off with Neo again, I guess I'll check down by the creek where they usually go off to. It's starting to get dark after all so they really need to come back to camp. After a bit of walking I finally, as I expected, find Neo and Yang sitting by the creek but I hear a small whimper just as I am about to call out to them.

"I know you miss him." Yang says. Who is the 'he' she mentioned? Yangs scrolls beeps and she takes a look at it before putting an arm around Neo. As she does the whimpering increases. "I know I can never replace him but...I'm here for you now so don't think you have to feel alone." Her scroll beeps again and she chuckles as soon as she reads the message. "I'm not the type to hold a grudge and besides-" she starts as she takes her glove off revealing a robotic forearm and hand. "this arm is way cooler than the old one." Neo must be apologizing for the attack on Beacon. She leans up and kisses Yang softly on the lips, Yang returns to gesture. I officially feel like I should give them some privacy and turn around heading back to camp.

Back at camp I immediately head into my tent and lay down on my cot.

"Hey Weiss, have you seen Yang?" Blake says popping her head into my tent.

"Yeah um she is by the creek with Neo." I say leaving out the whole kissing thing. I sit up and look at her. "Hey Blake do you know of anyone Neo might be really missing?"

"Well she never really talks to me about her personal life, Yang is the only one she opens up to, but if I had to guess..Roman probably." Blake answers.

"Oh right, I forgot he died during the Battle of Beacon." I say. "That was almost 3 years ago today."

"Yeah well according to Yang, Roman was very important to Neo almost like a father figure, he was there for her when no one else was." Blake says. "That is all Yang was willing to share."

"Oh...I see, I kinda feel bad for being so short with her, I'm sure she's been pretty upset with the anniversary of his death coming up." I say looking down in shame.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't know." she says.

"Yeah I guess." I say laying back on my cot.

"If it bothers you that much just apologize to her later." she says. "Anyway goodnight." Once she leaves I give it some thought and decide to apologize to Neo in the morning. I can't imagine how she must feel I mean I feel terrible about Ruby but at least she isn't dead...for now at least. I really need to work harder to get this operation done and over with so I can get back to her. I want to do everything I can to get my Ruby back. Honestly seeing Neo and Yang like that reminds me that I still have a lot I need to say to her. The idea of Ruby and I kissing though...makes the heat rise to my face and I'm sure my cheeks are bright red. I try my best to get it out of my head, otherwise I am not getting any sleep tonight.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 -

"According to Allens intel, this fortification is being run by a Grimmiore named Drake, he is an A-Class Grimmiore and will not go down easy." Winter says. "In fact Allen made it clear that this guy just barely got passed up to be part of Ravens elite group so approach with caution, on top of that this place is pretty well fortified with dozens of armed guards and about a dozen controlled Grimm."

"Don't worry I think with all eight of us combined this place will go down easy." Sun says, his trademark cocky smirk plastered on his face.

"I agree but we should still be cautious, being overly confident has come back to bite us before." I say.

"Exactly, we may have the advantage of force but they may still have the advantage of surprise, considering we have no idea what changes they have made to the inside of the fortification after communication with their main base went down." Winter says. "The walls are to difficult to scale normally, so Weiss and I will use our glyphs to give Blake, Sun, Scarlet and Neo a way up, once inside you will either sneak or fight your way to the front gate depending on whether you can get by undetected and then Weiss, Neptune, Yang and I will lead our Atlesian Knights and Paladins inside from there it should be no problem to decimate their forces."

"Allens intel also states that while not nearly as high tech as their main base they do have quite a few auto-turrets and automatic alarms so look out for those." I add.

"Alright now that we are all up to speed lets move out." Winter orders and we all begin moving out of camp and towards the enemy base. I am even more determined to make this mission a success than usual because this is the last base we need to take out before return to Earth's Pillar to rest up and stock up so we can take out the remaining enemy fortifications in Vale. I know the chances that I'll get to talk to my Ruby are slim but I need to see her face, its been months and I miss her.

By the time we reach the edge of the tree line near the enemy base it is getting dark which is perfect for the stealth team. Winter and I create a line of glyphs up the side of the wall for the stealth team to make it up. As soon as we do the stealth team makes their way to the wall, avoiding the spotlights of course, and running up the wall. Once they are successfully inside Blake sends me a message on my scroll to let me know that they weren't compromised.

"They made it inside." I say.

"Good, now we just have to have faith that they'll make it to the gate controls undetected, I'm sure they could fight their way through if that becomes necessary but it would just make everything go smoother." she responds. We just stand there waiting around with our fingers crossed, well mentally crossed anyway. It doesn't take more than 15 minutes before we hear some loud sirens go off followed by gunfire.

"Dammit, what the hell happened?!" I shout. Almost as if on cue I get a message on my scroll from Blake saying that Sun tripped the alarm while trying to steal some food. I massage my temples in frustration. "I am gonna kill him later."

"It doesn't matter, lets just hope they can fight their way through to the gate controls." Winter says remaining calm but with a slight hint of worry in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it, they have Neo with them, their is no way she'll be captured." Yang says managing to sound confident and unsure at the same time. The sounds of combat continue on for what feels like ages. We are all worried but trying to remain confident in our team. Suddenly the sounds stop and my heart skips a beat. After a solid five minutes we hear a voice come in over what sounds like the bases intercom system.

"Attention morons, we have captured your friends and will be killing them if you don't come out of whereever you are hiding and head toward the front gate, you have 10 minutes." the mystery voice says. I can only assume it must be Drake.

"Dammit..what do we do?" I ask.

"Why do you even have to ask, we're turning ourselves in." Yang says.

"No, I am going to turn myself in along with our robots, with luck they will believe that I am the only other member of the assault team." Winter says.

"You expect us to leave you and the others here?" I ask.

"Yes I do, you 3 head back to camp and send word back to Earths Pillar that the stealth route didn't work." she says. "I will try my best in the meantime to get myself and the others out of there once I see an opening."

"Winter I am not leaving you." I say.

"Weiss, just listen to her okay, she is making a lot of sense." Neptune says.

"Yeah I know how you feel but we need to get some back up, now that they know we're after them taking them down will be much harder." Yang adds. I let out a defeated sigh and hug Winter.

"Okay but you better be okay when we get back." I say as she hugs me back.

"I will don't worry, now go." she says, breaking the hug and leading the robots out of the tree line towards the front gate. The rest of us take off back towards camp with only one last reluctant look back.

Once back at the camp I immediately head back to the war tent and fire up the communication terminal.

"Earths Pillar come in, this is Weiss of Alpha Team, do you read me?" I ask trying to establish a connection. "Earths Pillar come in!"

"Why aren't they responding?" Yang asks out of frustration.

"I don't know." I answer just frustrated. "Earths Pillar please respond!"

"This...Earths Pillar!" they finally respond through a very staticy connection sounding extremely panicked.

"Finally what took so-" I start but am cut off.

"We...level 4 lock down...an emergency...prisoners..escaped..run rampant..need reinforcements immediately!" the panicked guard shouts.

"What are you talking about?!" I shout beginning to panic myself.

"Please..unable to contact..Atlas Military Bases for help..miracle that you were able to get through..send..no no NO PLEA-!" he shouts through the fuzzy communication before it finally cuts off. We all look at each other with a chilled and terrified look before running out towards the Air Ship.

(3 Hours Ago at Earths Pillar)

Ruby's POV -

"I can't take it anymore, I haven't been able to kill or destroy anything since I was created!" my dark side keeps shouting while slamming her head against the floor.

"Just give it a rest, we are under extremely strict lock down, your not going anywhere." I say, honestly getting annoyed.

"Oh screw you, I wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't decided to mess me up during that fight, I would be free as a blood drenched bird but you had to interfere." she responds. Suddenly there is a knocking on the cell wall and both evil me and I nearly jump out of our skins. We look over to the source of the knocking to see Hebi kneeling in front of the cell.

"Your late Hebi dear." Raven says from her cell.

"I know, sorry mother but this place is tougher to break into then I thought." she says unlocking our cells. The evil me hops on the opportunity and bursts out of the cell. Hebi then takes the liberty of freeing us from the straight jacket and then hands us Crescent Rose. This is bad...really bad I mean not only am I free but so is Raven, everyone here is in danger.

"Well considering you came through I will forgive you, did any of the others manage to escape?" she asks. Hebi's expression becomes more depressed.

"Unfortunately, Kuma was killed in the Blast.." she says.

"I see well no harm done, he was the weakest of my pets after all." Raven responds which seems to strike a nerve with Hebi.

"I did manage to escape however." A tall slender man steps out of the shadows.

"Ah Lucious, glad to see you made it out okay at least." Raven says.

"I will only die when you command it." he responds with a slimey smirk.

"Enough talk!" the evil me shouts. "I am finally free of that cage and I want to have some fun."

"Ruby has a point, I did come here with the hopes of getting some human blood on my hands." Lucious says.

"Alright fair enough, I have specific things I would like you all to do, but feel free to kill as many people as you want so long as you do what I need of you." Raven says. "Hebi I trust you and Lucious planted signal scramblers around the base?"

"Of course mother, it will take awhile before they can get in touch with anyone." she says.

"Well to be safe I need you and Lucious to spread and destroy every last piece of communications equipment you can find, I will be going after Summer, a bit of payback for helping to screw up my plans." Raven says.

"What about me?" The evil me asks, sickeningly giddy at the thought of killing people.

"I need you to track down Allen and eliminate him for betraying us." she says.

"Um mother..is that really necessary?" Hebi asks. It makes sense I mean her and Allen were pretty close.

"Don't question my orders Hebi, he betrayed us all and deserves to die, painfully." Raven responds. "Now you have your orders so get to it." Everyone immediately leaves and spreads out. I am forced to watch helplessly as the evil me mows down guard after guard. I try my best to regain control of our body but the evil me's blood lust is to strong, I can't override it. We run into a big room and are blinded by a huge spotlight.

"Miss Rose, please surrender peacefully or we will be forced to fire on you." a guard shouts over a megaphone. I am internally pleading for them to give up and run. "I mean it, drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head."

"I'm gonna have to say no." the evil me responds holding up her hand and igniting a flame in it. Then with an evil smirk she sends out a huge wave of fire, several guards are cooked alive and the rest were burned so badly they fell to the ground in pain. I watched horrified as the evil me finishes off the remaining guards, their blood covering our hands.

"Please stop this!" I shout in my head.

"Sorry, but I am having just to much fun." she responds darting down the adjacent hall. As soon as we enter the room where Allen was being held it appears like he has managed to escape which makes me breathe a sigh of relief. "Damn, where the hell did he go." Suddenly a the blade of a Naginata is pressed against our back. Oh no...

"Ruby, I don't want to have to kill you, but this slaughter has to stop." He says sternly as he presses his blade harder against us.

"Your Ruby isn't in control moron, how many times do you fools have to be told." she says pointing the barrel of crescent rose behind us and flipping forward away from his blade. She spins around to face him and lights a flame in her hand.

"Ruby please...I really REALLY don't want to kill you, and I know your sister not to mention Weiss would never forgive me, but I can't let you kill anymore if I do their blood will be on my hands and I have enough blood on my hands." he says.

"Then I guess your going to have to kill me, or at least try." she responds with a smirk. "I feel I must tell you that you are beyond out of your league."


	15. Chapter 14

Hey guys, while the comic adaption is still on (in fact we are 8 pages in) I decided to go ahead and finish this for you guys who wanted to finish this written version. Enough people expressed a desire for me to finish this version that after giving it some though I didn't feel right not finishing it. A few things first, 1. This version and the comic version will share the same over all plot but will vary in a lot of areas, such as a couple edited scenes to make it more palatable in comic form and changes to help tighten up some clumsy last minute decisions I made in later chapters. 2. The comic is the Definitive version of this story so for the best experience at least in my opinion read that version but this one will be finished. 3. Thank you for your continued support and enjoy :)

Chapter 14 -

Weiss' POV-

I can't believe how much everything just flipped on us. Sure the Ruby situation was always bad and on my mind constantly but the hope that Ruby would eventually return to normal plus the fact that we were steadily taking down base after base kept me in moderately good spirits. However in the last few hours our friends including my sister were captured, our operation had been brought to a halt and Earths Pillar is under siege. All I could think about on the way their is why the creator had to be so cruel to us. Constantly giving us hope only to have it stolen away. I still needed to radio Qrow and his team to let them know that we need to return to Earths Pillar asap. I grabbed the radio near the cockpit and turned it to their frequency.

"Team Qrow please come in this is an emergency." I say into the radio. My voice still pretty shaky.

"Weiss this is Qrow, what is the emergency and why didn't your sister radio me?" he asks.

"Well that is kind of part of the emergency.." I say realizing my sisters capture will be pretty hard on him too.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"Qrow, Winter along with most of our team have been captured." I say.

"Your..Your joking right?" he asks sounding absolutely stunned.

"No Qrow..I'm not." I say holding back a whimper.

"Dammit!" he shouts. "Give me their coordinates, I'll get them out of there."

"Qrow that's not all, Earths Pillar is currently under attack, we think someone must have busted out Raven and Ruby." I say.

"Son of a bitch.." he says, taking a long pause. "Okay look give me the coordinates for that base, I'll take Penny, Coco and Fox to free Winter and the others while Team JNPR and the other half of Team CFVY head to Earths Pillar to assist you."

"Okay..Okay sounds good." I say before reading off the coordinates. He ends the communication and I put the radio back in its holster.

"Let me guess." Yang says. "He is going to get Winter."

"Yep, along with the Penny, Coco, and Fox. " I say. "He is sending the rest to Earths Pillar, which is good, because if we face what I expect to face we will need all the help we can get."

Ruby's POV -

Evil me dodges a swipe from Allen's weapon, cackling as she does so, as if this life or death battle was just a game. Allen however fully understood the seriousness of this fight, the look on his face was one of determination mixed with sadness. He knows what he has to do but hates that he has to do it which makes my heart hurt even more. That being said he doesn't seem to be giving it his all almost as if he is conserving his energy though the evil me isn't really giving it her all either, she hasn't used the maiden powers once yet. In the distance we hear a loud explosion which cases both the evil me and Allen's attention.

"Looks like Mother has started dealing with that Summer woman." the evil me says with sickening glee.

"Dammit, just hold on Summer, I won't let them kill you." he says through gritted teeth.

"Oh really" the evil me asks. "and just how do you plan on stopping us bird brain, you won't even be able to stop me let alone everyone else, and you call your self a Grimmiore?"

Her taunts don't faze him or at least they don't appear to and he goes right back to attacking us. I am so pathetic, my friends are fighting for their lives and all I can do is watch.

Weiss' POV -

Finally we arrive at Earths Pillar, we land on the nearby landing pad and unboard. As we do we are approached by several soldiers who tell us that we are to go straight to the War Room, they have managed to create a perimeter around it and the landing pad but they have no idea how long they can hold out. Had it not been for Ironwood and Summer they probably would've fallen long ago. JNPR, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi haven't arrived yet but we hold out hope that they will be here soon. Once we arrive at the War Room we see Ironwood directing several soldiers and some of which appear to be trying to reestablish a remote connection to the robots.

"Ironwood sir, we're here to assist, Team JNPR along with half of Team CFVY are on their way." I say saluting him.

"What about Qrow , Penny, and the other half of Team CFVY?" he asks. "Where is Winter and the rest of your squad?"

"Unfortunately...Winter and the others were captured during an assault on an enemy base." I say suppressing a worried look. "Qrow decided to take some of his squad with him in an attempt to free them."

"I see...well we will have to trust in Qrow and the ones he took with him because we are pretty much tied down here, this is a Level 5 emergency, not only have two unidentified Grimmiore found their way into the facility but they have managed to release Raven and Ruby." he says. "...So far I count at least 300 Soldiers that are either K.I.A or M.I.A, not to mention Summer and Allen got caught outside the perimeter after the attack and I haven't heard from them since, something is blocking up our signals."

"Sir Yang and I will do our best to re-establish some control outside of the perimeter." I say.

"Thats what I was hoping you would say, I will stay here and try to maintain control of the perimeter, I will send the others your way when they arrive and...good luck." he says.

"Thank you sir." Yang and I both say, saluting him before running past the soldier blockade in an attempt to help as much as we can.

Yang and I are running through corridor after corridor and having to sweep around many dead bodies. I can't believe that Ruby could be one of the ones responsible for this carnage. Every time I imagine her slicing someone down in cold blood my heart skips breaks a bit more, especially because I know that even though its not her fault...I will have to strike her down if we can't stop her.

"I may be sick but I wouldn't underestimate me Raven!" I hear Summers voice shout. Yang and I run towards the sound of her voice. Eventually we find Raven and Summer in the middle of a stand off. They had obviously been fighting for awhile because they were both covered in wounds.

"Oh please Summer, you may have been our team leader back in the day but even then you could never best me, why do you think your precious Tai chose me over you." Raven says with a sadistic sneer. "You were just his back up plan."

"That won't get to me like it used to Raven, I know that's not true, he may have chosen you at first but once he realized what you really were it broke his heart and I was there for him." Summer says. "True he might have only decided to be with me out of gratitude at first but I know in the end he really loved me"

"Your one to talk, get off your high horse!" Raven responds. "You abandoned him as well, not to mention Ruby, your no better than me!"

"I am far better than you, true I made a mistake and I will regret it forever but you left them out of selfish desires, nothing more." Summer says. Raven obviously having had enough of this conversation slams into Summer with her sword, luckily Summer managed to use the last of her aura to deflect the hit but it sent her flying.

"Summer!" Yang yells as she runs to Summers side.

"Ah my sweet little Yang, how kind of you to join us." Raven says with a smug look.

"Yang please don't interfere, I don't want you to get hurt." Summer says, straining to get up only to fall back down.

"Are you crazy?!" Yang shouts. "You'll die if you keep going like this."

"You think you can protect her?" Raven says with a smirk. "I am afraid you may be suffering from delusions." Yang looks at her with a seering hatred.

"Weiss, go look for Ruby and stop her, I'm counting on you." she says standing in a defensive position in front of Summer before turning to me and giving her signature cocky grin. "I've got this." With only a moment of hesitation I nod and run off.

Ruby's POV -

Allen and myself have been locked in combat for quite awhile now. Allen has lasted far longer than I initially thought he would. I mean yeah he is really strong but between my newly enhanced strength and the Summer maiden powers he doesn't stand a chance, at least not alone. At best he is buying time.

"You ready to give up yet?" The evil me says with her typical cock and arrogant tone. Our body is starting to get tired but...Allen looks like he could drop any minute.

"Not a chance, whether I live or die only one of us is leaving." he says clearly using a good amount of his strength just to keep himself standing straight.

"Well then I guess you'll just have to die, at least you'll go down with a shred of dignity." The evil me says, standing in a charging position. This is really bad, Allen can't take much more, I wish he would just run. As much as I hate watching myself kill all those innocent soldiers, killing my friends would be something I could never let go of. I try harder and harder to break through and take control long enough to convince Allen to run or if I can't...then to let him kill me.

"I'll go down with more dignity than I have had in a long time, that is assuming I don't land the final blow." He says with a smirk and preparing to charge. Please just run away Allen. "Oh and Ruby, I know your in there and I just want to say something just in case I don't get the chance later, I am truly grateful to you for opening my eyes and making me realize that I didn't have to be full of hate for your kind all the time."

"Would you just shut up, your Ruby isn't here!" the evil me says with some agitation.

"I also wanted to thank you for showing me what its like to have a real friend again, true I may not have always been the nicest to you but you cared for me even when I didn't deserve it." he says seemingly ignoring the evil me. A big smile spreads across his face. "If I'm honest I even kinda started to fall for you." That last bit in particular punches me in the gut extra hard.

"Oh gag me." the evil me says, making me want to punch her in the face.

"Of course I know I could never compete with Weiss." he says with a chuckle. "I just felt like telling you that in case I don't make it out of this." Please run Allen!

"That's it I'll just shut you up myself!" the evil me says charging at him. In turn he readies his weapon and charges at her and all I can do is scream for him to run in vain, knowing my voice can't reach him.

"PLEASE STOP!" I shout finally managing to break through for a brief moment. I was too late though after we briefly cross blades I, in horror, see Allen begin to cough up blood and fall to the ground. I immediately drop to his side. "Allen...no.." Is all I could say.

"Well damn guess I didn't hold out long enough." he says struggling to talk and even lets out a pained chuckle. "Sorry Rubes."

"No I'm sorry, if I had been strong enough this wouldn't have happened." I say, tears now running down my face. I place his head in my lap in an attempt to make him more comfortable.

"Don't worry about it Ruby, we all have to go sometime and I have had much more time than most." he says with a smile. "Besides at least I went out doing something honorable for a change."

"I'm just sorry we didn't get to be friends longer.." I say through sniffles.

"Me too but..I think I can make due with the kindness you showed me in the little time we had..thank you...for everything." he says as he goes limp and his aura fades. Realizing he is really gone I embrace him and cry even harder before I feel the evil me begin to take control again.

"Give me my body back!" I hear her shout within my head.

"It's my body!" I shout back gripping my head in pain. "and your not getting back, never again!" I reach for one of the knives on my belt and struggle to put the blade to my throat.

"You idiot, you'd really kill yourself to deny me my body!" she shouts.

"Damn right I would, I am not letting you kill anymore of my friends!" I shout. Just as I am about to slit my own throat I hear a familiar voice.

"Ruby no!" Weiss shouts from behind me. I turn to see her standing in the entryway.

"Weiss?..." I say staring at her with still fresh tears on my face. She runs toward me and immediately knocks the blade out of my hands before embracing me.

"What do you think you were doing you dolt!" she shouts, obviously having caught on to what I was about to do.

"I have to die Weiss!" I shout. "How much longer until I kill someone else, I know you all care about me but I'm to dangerous to be kept alive!"

"No I won't allow it!" she says. "Your not aloud to just make me fall in love with you and then check out of my life!"

"What?" I ask, hardly able to believe what I just said.

"I love you, you dolt..." she says. "That's what I have been wanting to talk to you about all this time, I wasn't sure about my feelings and wanted to discuss them but now I'm sure.."

"Weiss I...no SHE killed Allen." I say only barely managing to keep her at bay.

"I can see that...I never really forgave him for kidnapping you but he didn't deserve this..i'm sorry Ruby but that is no excuse to try and leave me like that." she says holding me even tighter.

"I'm sorry Weiss but..I'm so scared that at any moment she'll take control again and force me to kill someone else I care about.." I say between sobs.

"I will stop her, I promise that I won't let her kill anyone else, so please don't ever do that again." she says through what sounds like tears of her own. "Promise me."

"I promise..." I say after a moment of stunned silence, followed by even more silence. "We should probably get me in restraints...just in case."

"Yeah I guess.." Weiss says tying my hands behind my back.

"We should also probably report Allen as KIA..." I say glancing over at him.

"Yeah I'll handle that." Weiss says standing me up and beginning to escort me back to what I assume is where Atlas is holding themselves up. She also picks up Allen, intending to bring his body back with us. I still can't believe she said she loves me. I mean it kind of caught me off guard, then again its not like I haven't been thinking about the same thing...I mean she is always there for me and has done so much to try and save me not only from the Grimmiore but from myself.

"Weiss.." I say wanting to tell her something important.

"Yes Ruby?" she asks.

"I think I love you too." I say.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 -

Weiss' POV -

Ironwood made the decision to have me keep a close eye on Ruby at all times. We put extremely powerful metal cuffs around her hands and feet ensuring that she wouldn't be able to get free on her own. So far she has surprisingly been able to maintain control of her body which is a nice change of pace because I have actually been able to just sit and talk with my Ruby for the first time in a long time. It wasn't long till Yang, Ren and Nora returned to command. Apparently Ren and Nora had arrived just in time to help Yang in her fight against Raven and turn the tides a bit. Its a good thing she was likely not at her full strength after her fight with Summer or they might not have been able to take her even together, considering how easily she whooped us back in their fortress. Jaune, Pyrhha, Velvet and Yatsuhashi are still out there trying to thin out the hordes of low level Grimmiore so we can try and take back Earths Pillar. They did manage to drive out the two Grimmiore invaders who helped Ruby and Raven escape, they were identified as being that snake Grimmiore girl Hebi and Lucious who I was shocked to find out survived our last encounter.

"Hey Weiss." Ruby says trying to get my attention.

"Yeah Ruby?" I ask.

"You never answered my question." she says.

"Oh I'm sorry, what was it again?" I ask.

"Its fine, I'm sure your distracted after all that has happened." she says. "I asked if you could get me a drink my throat is like ouch dry right now, I'd get it myself but you know." she says holding up her cuffed limbs for emphasis.

"Oh sure hold on a second." I say getting up and telling the two guards to keep an eye on her. Luckily command happened to be right next to the mess hall so I just walked in and got her a juice box out of the fridge. I wonder how long she will be able to maintain control, I mean this is the longest she has been in control so...maybe she has finally beaten her. Once I get back I stick the straw in the juice box and hold it to her lips. She takes a huge swig, man she really must have been thirsty.

"Thanks Weiss that really hit the spot." she says while flashing me that signature sweet Ruby smile.

"No problem, I know its not your fault your all locked up like this, I'll get you anything you need." I say sitting down in front of her. "So um..."

"What is it?" she asks.

"Do you think that maybe you've gained permanent control?" I ask with a hopeful look in my eyes.

"No." she says bluntly. I appreciate her honesty but that is far from what I wanted to hear. She seems to notice the disappointment in my eyes and tries to clarify her statement. "I mean don't get me wrong, it is getting easier to keep her at bay but...she is still constantly scratching at my mind and trying to take control back from me, It's like Allen said I'll never fully be rid of her but I can learn to fight her off."

"I see...well I guess that's better than nothing." I say.

"Weiss...about what we both said back there." she starts but then stops.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"Did you really mean it?" she asks.

"Yeah..Yeah I meant it, I was gonna tell you when the time was right but when I saw you trying to...you know, I was so emotional that I just blurted it out." I say. "Did you mean it?"

"Of course, I just wanted to be sure you didn't just say it in the heat of the moment or something." she says with a nervous smile. "When did you realize it?"

"I'm not sure really, I think part of me knew ever since that night on the roof but I wasn't sure until very recently." I say blushing slightly when the realization hits me that Ruby and I are discussing our romantic feelings for each other.

"Yeah, same here, once I figured it out everything started to make sense." she says. "How I felt that night, why I got jealous whenever Neptune flirted with you, why I sometimes couldn't take my eyes off you, everything."

"Yeah I completely understand." I say. "That's basically how it was for me, minus the jealousy thing, I mean I was kinda jealous our third year when that first year guy flirted with you but when he looked over at me he looked scared and ran off."

"I remember that, I felt bad for the poor guy but I was just glad he left me alone, I didn't realize you scared him off out of jealousy I thought it was just a friendly protectiveness or something." she says with a slight giggle.

"Oh shut it you dolt." I say blushing even harder. She giggled again at my expense. Suddenly without any warning we were just staring into each others eyes, a blush plastered across both our faces, and after a solid minute we began to slowly lean in. We inched closer and closer until our lips were barely a centimeter apart.

Suddenly Ironwood bursts in looking surprisingly chipper.

"Good news Miss Schnee." he says. We both jump from the surprise and I am sure we look mortified.

"Um I am not interrupting anything am I?" he asks. Part of me wants to smack him but the other part wants to hear what he has to say.

"N-No of course not." I stand at attention. "What is it General?"

"We just got coms back online and we got a transmission from Qrow, the rescue mission was success and they suffered no casualties." he says. "Your sister should be here by late tonight."

"That's great!" I say extremely happy to hear that. "Thank you for telling me General."

"My pleasure, now on a slightly more saddening note..we will be having a funeral tomorrow for Allen and all the soldiers who fell tomorrow." he says. "I know it is short notice but with Grimmiore fortifications still out there not to mention the 3 who caused this chaos still on the loose we don't have much time to morn."

"Of course, I'm just glad we are taking the time to honor them." I say. I look over to Ruby and see that Allen's death is still hitting her pretty hard. It wasn't long after his death that the Grimm blood in his veins evaporated and he returned to his normal appearance. I'm sure he would've wanted to be remembered that way.

"I realize Allen was a friend of yours Miss Rose and I am truly sorry for your loss." he says saluting her.

"Thank you, that means a lot." she says.

"There is a silver lining in all of this, recon teams managed to capture data from the security cameras that had plenty of footage of this slaughter, I sent it out to the leaders of the other 2 academies and they are finally taking the Grimmiore threat seriously." He says. "They will be requesting that graduates from their respective academies come out here to help us, we could've done that ourselves but they have a lot more pull with their graduates than I or Ozpin do."

"That's good I suppose...I just wish no one had to die to make that happen." I say.

"I share the sentiment Miss Schnee." he says. "Well I best be getting back to work, we almost have pushed out all the remaining Grimmiore and once that is done Earths Pillar will be ours again and repairs can begin." He says saluting us as he walks out.

"I'm glad to hear the others made it out okay." Ruby says.

"Me too, I mean with everything that has happened it was nice to get some good news." I say sitting down across from her. We sit in silence for a few minutes.

"So um...should we try again?" she asks a blush slowly growing across her face again. I immediately light up again. After a moment of hesitation I nod and we again start leaning in. It lasts a few seconds but it feels a grueling century before our lips finally meet. It felt weird at first but only for a few seconds, after that it started to feel really nice and well...right. I put my arms around her neck and pull her closer to deepen the kiss. We get so into it that we almost forget to breathe. Eventually I run out of breathe and pull away gasping for air.

"That was um..." Ruby starts.

"Fantastic." I finish for her.

"Yeah, that." she says.

We sit there, talk, and..kiss a few more times before I decide it is getting late and I head back to my quarters. I made sure someone was there to keep an eye on her and get her anything if need be. Also that they should contact me immediately if something goes wrong.

(several hours later)

I took advantage of the long awaited resting time to just lay back on my bunk and mess around on my scroll. It was still difficult to get everything that had happened that day out of my head. My sister and friends being captured, all those soldiers that died, Allen's death, Ruby's attempted suicide and our confession that followed. If I'm honest I didn't become sure of my feelings until I saw that blade against her throat and the idea of her being gone forever made me feel like my heart had been ripped out. The only silver lining in recent events is my sisters and the rest of my friends being saved. Not to mention Ruby and I figuring out how we feel about each other. After awhile I hear a knock at my door. I get up to answer it and see Winter standing on the other side.

"Winter!" I say immediately wrapping my arms around her.

"It's good to see you too Weiss." she says hugging me back.

"I was so scared and worried when you got captured." I say hugging her tighter. "I was terrified I'd never see you again."

"Give your big sister some credit Weiss." she says patting my head. "I'm sorry I worried you."

"Its okay I'm just so happy your safe." I say.

"Yeah well once Qrow caught wind of my capture lets just say, my captors didn't stand a chance, I actually kind of felt sorry for them." she says causing me to laugh slightly. I pulled her into my cabin so that we could talk. I told her about the battles we had to fight, about Allen, and...about Ruby and I.

Ruby's POV -

I still can't believe what just happened. Weiss and I kissed, not only that but it felt really good too. I had feelings for her before sure but now I can't get her face out of my head. Honestly...she's the only thing keeping me from sinking into a deep depression right now. I mean I know it wasn't directly but she used my hands to kill Allen not to mention all those soldiers.

"Oh shut the hell up, if it wasn't for you I would've busted out of here and been long gone by now but thanks to you I'm trapped again." the evil me says. "Oh well just a minor setback."

"Shut up, believe what you want, but you are never getting control of my body again." I say.

"I wouldn't be so sure, once Mother comes for me she will find a way to let me take over and for good too." she says back.

"Mother?" I ask.

"Just wait and see, lets just say that something is about to go down very soon, and none of your friends will survive." she says with an evil grin. "Especially your precious Weiss."


	17. Chapter 16

Hey guys sorry for the insanely long delay and the short chapter but I was an am going through writers block, honestly just a creative block in general. :( Regardless I hope you guys enjoy the chapter anyway. OH and on the day this chapter goes up I will be doing a live stream on my Twitch, I will be playing multiple games including Destiny and Dark Souls 3 new game+. I am saying this hear because I will also be open for questions and discussions about ANY of my stories, whether they are finished or not :) My Twitch is called DotakuLIVE and the stream will start at 7:30 p.m. eastern standard time so go check it out if you want to discuss my stories or if you just wanna hang out, see ya then.

Chapter 16 -

Weiss' POV -

It was a few days later, the funeral had come and gone, and we were regretfully holding a meeting to decide what should be done about Ruby. Ozpin had flown in to be a part of this meeting as well as assist in Ironwoods efforts against the Grimmiore. Some suggested just keeping her under strict lock and key until a better solution could be found. Me and a few others advocated for allowing her to have some freedom. My case being that she had been showing great improvement in controlling her Grimm side and that if we kept treating her like an animal she wouldn't be able to heal properly. Of course some were arguing for her execution...on one hand I understand because many of them had seen their comrades slain by her but on the other hand I wanted to kill them where they stood for even suggesting it. It wasn't her fault and the fact that they were acting like it was made me unbelievably angry. I can only imagine how Yang and Qrow must've felt.

"This girl is a clear threat, she slaughtered dozens of soldiers and if we don't put her down she will kill again!" a high ranking officer shouted.

"You can't kill her for something that she couldn't do anything about!" another officer argues.

"Why not?" he asks. "Isn't that what you do to a mad dog?"

"You call my sister a mad dog one more time and you won't have to worry about Ruby anymore, because I'LL kill you!" Yang shouts, her eyes blood red.

"General, Professor, you seriously can't be entertaining this killing idea?" I ask frustrated that neither of them has rejected the idea yet.

"Well...look Weiss I don't like it either but we seriously need to start considering whether keeping her alive...is to dangerous." Ironwood says.

"Your serious...Ozpin?" I ask looking to him.

"...Miss Schnee, you know that Miss Rose is my student and I don't want to see her harmed either but I also don't want to see another massacre like this, It was the worst one we have seen since the Battle of Beacon...as much as I hate to say it keeping Miss Rose alive is unwise." Ozpin answers.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Yang appeared to be equally in shock and about lose it before..

"However, as unwise as it may be I do not have it in me to condemn an innocent girl to the gallows so...I move to not have Miss Rose executed." he says, causing a look of relief to wash over my face.

"Very well." Ironwood responds. "All who are for sparing Ruby?"

My gut tenses up as I look around the room, many raise their hands..many don't.

"All who oppose?" Ironwood asks.

Much less people raise their hands this time around which made me feel relieved. The meeting went on for a bit longer before it was decided that Ruby would remain under lock and key for now but if her behavior continued to improve she would be allowed more freedom. Once that was decided we began to discuss how to handle the threat Ruby's Grimm side had told Ruby about.

"We have no idea if we can even trust that Rose girl let alone that monster inside her." the same officer from earlier mentioned.

"First I trust Ruby with my life and second we can at least trust her Grimm half on this one because it feels no need to lie about these things, it may be a sick and evil version of Ruby but she is still Ruby which means she is cocky to a fault." I say with a stern voice. "It said Raven was planning something and that she had help, I have no idea who or what this help could be since it wouldn't say, but this needs to be taken seriously."

"What would you propose we do Miss Schnee?" Ozpin asks.

"Well...I have discussed that with JNPR's strategist." I say motioning to Jaune. "He and I agreed that we need to delay any further possible attacks on Grimmiore settlements for now and really focus on both building back up Earths Pillar and the military with more weapons, soldiers, and mechs"

"We also need keep a few Hunter teams here in Earths Pillar to aid in the reconstruction BUT sends as many Hunters as we can to each of the major cities protect them in the event that these Grimmiore decide to attack population centers." Jaune says. "I know that is a tall order to fill but with the reinforcements of Hunters coming from Vale, Vacuo, and Mystral it should be possible."

"I motion that we put Arc's plan into action immediately." Winter says. She trusts his judgement, ever since the assault on Ravens Fortress his plans usually work out.

"I second that." Qrow says trusting his fiance's judgement.

"Very well, all who are for this plan?" Ironwood asks as nearly everyone raises their hands.

"All opposed?" he asks merely as a courtesy. The only one who raises his hand is the asshole officer from before.

"Alright then starting tomorrow we will put this plan into action, any other motions?" Ironwood asks, when no one answers he dismisses us and we all leave. I immediately head to Ruby's room to see her lying on her bed with Zwei. She's unable to pet him due to her current hand situation but she can cuddle him. I was kind of jealous honestly.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouts, it makes me so happy to see her usually cheerful self starting to shine through again. "How did the meeting go?" she asks. I kiss her on the cheek and sit down on the bed next to her.

"It could've gone better but they agreed to Jaunes plan AND to start slowly allowing you more freedom." I say with a smile, deciding against telling her about the death vote, not wanting to ruin her mood.

"That's great!" she says sitting up and resting her head on my shoulder. Ever since we confessed to each other we have been like this quite often. Cuddling, kissing and saying we loved each other. If it weren't for the all the terrible things that have happened recently I would be the happiest I have ever been, but Ruby is definitely my primary source of joy right now. "So umm...does that mean you'll be leaving?"

"Absolutely not, I am going to make it clear tomorrow that I am staying to help with the reconstruction." I say. She smiles in response.

Ruby's POV -

"You have no idea how happy that makes me, If I'm honest...I really need you." I say cuddling up against her.

"I know and...I need you too, if it weren't for you my spirit may have been broken by now." she says.

"Nah, the Weiss Schnee I know would fight to the bitter end." I say looking up at her.

"Yeah I suppose, but I wouldn't be nearly as driven without you here, after all you give me a reason to fight." she says making my heart flutter. My evil side keeps making obnoxious gagging sounds and over all just being a nuisance but I ignore her. Weiss leans in with her eyes closed, at this point I know where this is going and lean up to kiss her. Our lips touch and just like before it feels like fireworks are bursting around us.

"I will never get tired of that." I say after we break the kiss.

"Yeah me neither." she says with a soft smile.

"You better enjoy it while you can, won't be much longer now until your precious Weiss is dead." the evil me says. She is always trying to ruin my time with Weiss but this time I refuse to let her.

"Weiss, no matter what happens you promise you'll never leave me right?" I ask.

"Of course." she says looking slightly worried. "What brought that on?"

"Nothing, I just really wanted to hear it." I say with a smile.

"She can promise whatever she wants but she has no choice in the matter, she will be taken away from you and when your weak and heartbroken I will make my move." the evil me says but I shut her out by pressing my lips against Weiss'. This time the evil me will be wrong, Weiss has my back and I have hers, together we will defeat Raven and whats left of her minions. Then...I don't know but I know we will be together and the evil me will be forever locked inside me, for the first time in ages I feel hope.


	18. Chapter 17

Well I managed to get another chapter done in a fairly short period of time and its almost twice as long as the last one XD Hope you guys enjoy it :)

Chapter 17 -

It had been a few days since Jaune's plan had been put into motion. Team JNPR agreed to remain stationed at Earths Pillar along with Team RWBY...well I guess I should say Team WBY, at least for now. Team CFVY were sent back to Vale to help oversee protection of the city. Team SSSN were being stationed in Sun's home back in Vacuo despite Sun really wanting to stay near Blake. Mom was sent home, she was deemed to ill to serve and her injuries didn't help, she decided to go home to dad who would be more than happy to see her. I honestly wish I could've gone with her, both to make up for lost time and to see the look on dad's face. A few more Hunters, young and old, were flown in to oversee reconstruction of Earths Pillar, it would take awhile since they planned to not only rebuild it but make it stronger than before. They wanted to turn it into an absolute symbol of humanities strength and tenacity.

Meanwhile Hunters and Huntresses all over Remnant were put on high alert that something big and very bad could come at any time so be on the lookout. Atlas also dispatched as many soldiers and mechs as they could spare to bolster all the major cities defenses. Local Militia groups were also put on high alert as well as City Police. It was as if the entire world was preparing to go to war.

Naturally all this bolstering of defenses led to people asking a lot of questions. It was agreed that the people deserve to know what has happened and what could be coming. The massacre at Earths Pillar and the Grimmiore became public knowledge though some more sensitive details were obviously left out. People were given time to mourn the greatest loss of life since the Battle of Beacon and to prepare themselves for what may come.

On the bright side I was slowly being given more freedom to move around as I began to take more and more control of my Grimm side. I wasn't allowed to be armed yet and I still had to be accompanied by Weiss everywhere I went, which wasn't so bad honestly, but people were slowly starting to trust me again. I still got nasty looks here and their but I try not to hold it against them, I mean they were grieving and scared.

"Hello, Remnant to Ruby." Weiss says waving her hand in front of my face.

"Oh uh sorry Weiss did you say something?" I ask snapping back into reality.

"I was just saying I am surprised to see you not geeking out over all the new weaponry they are installing around here." she says motioning to the newly installed ballistic cannons, the yet to be installed laser security grids, and the new prototype for the Atlesian Knight 300.

"Yeah normally I would be, I mean they are awesome." I say allowing myself one moment of geekiness. " I just have a lot on my mind, I mean I just have a bad feeling that something terrible is coming, doesn't help that 'she' won't shut up."

"Speaking of that when you say she talks to you, you mean..literally?" Weiss asks.

"Yeah, I wish it wasn't the case because Oum knows I'd love for her to shut it, but unfortunately our conversations are as real as the one me and you are having right now." I say explaining it as best I can.

"So um can she hear me right now?" Weiss asks.

"Yep, anything I hear she can hear." I respond.

"If she talks so much how are you able to hold conversations with anyone else?" Weiss asks.

"Its not easy, it can distracting but I have gotten better at tuning her out, makes me wonder if Allen had this other him inside him or if they just merged into one person at some point." I say looking up at the once we step out into the courtyard.

"I can't really answer that but at least he was good in the end." Weiss says grabbing my hand.

"Yeah he was, I'm sure we could've been really good friends." I say smiling.

"Me too, he was a bit rough around the edges but he was a good guy all things considered." Weiss says with a smile of her own. I just realized it but Weiss has been smiling more than usual lately, especially considering the circumstances. I'm not really complaining considering I love her smile, she usually looks like as beautiful as a princess but when she smiles she outshines everything. Suddenly a soldier runs up to us and salutes Weiss which I found slightly cool, it was as if Weiss over time had begun to garner almost as much respect as Winter around here, which is super impressive.

"Miss Schnee, their is a large Grimm contingent moving toward us, it appears to only be migrating to a new hunting territory but it will collide with the base soon and Ironwood has ordered all active Hunters and Huntresses to deal with the issue." he says, repeating the message he was given likely word for word.

"Understood, thank you." Weiss says and the soldier presumably returns to his post. Suddenly and idea runs through my head.

"Weiss...let me fight with you." I say.

"Ruby you know I can't do that, your under lock down." Weiss says almost apologetically.

"Weiss how can I prove myself to these people if I am not allowed to show them what I can do, if I can't show them how much I can help?" I say pleadingly.

"Ruby.." Weiss says before I cut her off.

"Please Weiss, I'll take the rap if they feel the need to punish someone but I know if I can show them that I'm in control now and that I can be an asset instead of a liability that I can make them trust me." I say almost begging now. Weiss appears to think it over, looking in every direction that isn't right at me before groaning in defeat.

"Fine!" she shouts. "Let's go get Crescent Rose."

"Thanks Weiss!" I say pushing myself against her. She gently pushes me away cutely blushing as she does so. I can't help but giggle at how shy she is about PDA still. We make our way to her room where she removes my binds and hands me Crescent Rose. It feels so good to be holding my darling again with MY hands and not hers. We then as quickly as we can make our way to the rear of the base where the Grimm contingent is approaching from. The guards at the gate did ask why I was here but Weiss just told them I had Ironwoods permission, they seemed to doubt it but they allowed us through.

"They weren't kidding about the size." I say as soon as I lay my eyes on the large gathering of Grimm. It was really massive, I am glad Weiss let me help because even with all the Hunters and Huntresses on hand, not to mention the fact that the weapons mounted on the base walls hadn't been installed yet this is going to be a tough fight. That being said I was still really excited, I hadn't fought with my own body since I was captured and I was pumped to get back into action.

"Ruby?" Jaune asks when he sees me. "Ironwood let you come fight with us?"

"Uh yeah I guess he thought you guys could use the help." I say nervously rubbing the back of my head. I really am a terrible liar.

"Your here without permission aren't you?" he asks.

"Yes." I immediately admit, my shoulder sagging in defeat.

"Whatever, I was considering asking Ironwood to let you off the leash anyway with how rough this fight is gonna be, just don't be surprised if you get a tongue lashing later." he says. I should've known Jaune would be okay with it. Aside from Weiss he is my best friend.

Team Jaune, Pyrhha, Nora , Yang, Winter, Weiss and Uncle Qrow were stationed up front along with a few other Hunters. Ren and Blake along with a few others were told to hide up in the trees to surprise them when they got close enough. I was stationed in the rear with other long rang fighters. We were told to only get involved in the fight when we were needed, otherwise just snipe them off from a distance. It wasn't long before the fighters in the front line were met with the Grimm horde. Jaune and Pyrhha as usual were damn near unstoppable, they tore into the monsters without being touched. Nora and Yang were more devastating than any Atlesian Paladin, smashing entire groups of Grimm. Weiss as usual fought with a odd yet beautiful combination of ferocity and elegance. She weaved between groups of Grimm with ease, cutting them down one by one. Winter fought in a very similar manner which I expected but she was even faster and more lethal, she was already pretty tough that day when she fought Uncle Qrow but since then she has gotten a lot better. Uncle Qrow was almost like a Grimm Reaper on the battlefield, mowing Grimm down like it was nothing. He is so cool, I only wish I can be as tough as him someday.

Eventually the Grimm horde pushed the front line fighters back enough that the ambush team was given the order to jump into action. As expected the mostly mindless beasts didn't see it coming and it was a pretty devastating blow to them. "Alright guys lets mow them down!" I shout to the other snipers with me and we all begin destroying Grimm through our scopes. The fight was really going our way at first, Grimm were falling left and right but there just didn't seem to be an end to them. They kept pushing closer and closer but we snipers were told to maintain our distance for now, a couple times we had to have soldiers deliver us ammunition. Our shipment of Atlesian Knights and Paladins hadn't arrived yet so we could only deploy what we had which was a couple dozen Knights and one Paladin. It wasn't much but it did take some of the burden off the Hunters. Soldiers helped where they could, firing into the crowd of Grimm, a few of them even offered to join in the fight with swords. I admired their bravery but this fight was to rough for standard foot soldier to engage in close range combat unless they absolutely had to.

Suddenly in almost an instant the tides started to turn against us when not only did Alphas and Majors start joining in on the fight but it turns out the Horde was bigger than we thought. Out of the ground dozens of subterranean Grimm began to emerge. Jaune was just about give us snipers the order to join in on the fight we heard a loud yell of pain and I turned my scope in the direction of the sound. It was young Hunter, not much older than me who had been brutally impaled on the claws of an Ursa Major. Nora manages to put the beast down and Jaune yells for a medical extraction.

"Jaune we are moving in!" I yell into my earpiece. I stand up and motion for the other Hunters with me to follow me.

"Make it fast, we need someone to take our downed Hunter back for treatment!" he yells back. We charge toward the battle as fast we can, I ask a young Huntress who looked even younger than me to carry the wounded Hunter back. She agreed tossing him over her shoulders and running back, I gotta admit she was strong for someone who looked so small.

"Glad to see you Rubes, this fight is really starting to turn sour!" Jaune shouts as he and Pyrrha take out an Alpha Beowulf. I turn Crescent Rose into Scythe mode and begin tearing into the Grimm.

"We can do this, we just need to show these bastards who is boss!" I shout.

"That's the spirit kiddo!" Uncle Qrow shouts back causing a smirk to spread across my face. This reminds me of the time I fought that pack of beowulves, I began tearing into these Grimm just like back then. It was such a rush and it felt good taking out these monsters. Even my evil side seemed to be enjoying herself, leading me to believe she had no allegiance to humans or Grimm she just liked killing. At least we agreed on something, it was fun fighting Grimm.

Despite the rest of joining in on the fight the Grimm still had a clear advantage. They keep pushing us back little by little but we hold the line. We refused to let one Grimm get past us, a combination of a desire to protect the base and our pride. All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see something that enrages me, a Beowulf had caught Weiss off guard and slashed her in the back, she cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Out of anger I immediately rushed over and beheaded the monster.

"Weiss are you okay!?" I ask panicked.

"I-I'm fine." she said through clear pain. I caught a look at her back and while it wasn't life threatening she had a huge claw mark on her back. She was in a lot of pain, so much so she had trouble standing up at first. I don't know why, but seeing Weiss get hurt like this just made me unbelievably angry.

"How dare you..." I say the anger welling up inside of me.

"Ruby calm down." Weiss says clearly frantic to subside my rage.

"How dare you hurt my Weiss!" I shout turning around and unleashing a torrent of flame onto the Grimm horde. I was hesitant to use my Maiden powers since I hadn't really been able to practice with them but at the moment I didn't really care. Everyone backed away from me, likely to avoid getting burnt themselves. I continue to blast away before I realize I am starting to lose control to her, my eyes turning red for a brief moment before I force myself to calm down, stopping the torrent of flame and collapsing to my knees. Weiss rushes to my side.

"Ruby are you okay?" she asks with great concern in her voice. "Are you still with us?"

"Y-Yeah it's still me." I say struggling to try and stand before giving up. That attack really drained me more than I thought it would. Maidens must have to train for years to be able to use their powers properly. "I'm sorry its just...when I saw you get hurt I just lost it." She responds by slugging me in the arm before pulling me into a tight hug.

"Don't scare me like that, I thought she was going to take you over again!" she shouts.

"I-I'm sorry Weiss." I say. Eventually the other Hunters all begin returning to the fight, a few of them checking to make sure I was okay after that outburst of mine. Since the Grimm horde was now moderately under control due to that blast of flame Weiss and I were ordered to sit it out so I could compose myself.

Weiss and I made our way back to the base, one the way back Jaune contacts me through my earpiece.

"I don't know how you managed to pull that off Ruby but it was a big help." Jaune says through his ear piece. "We are actually pushing them back and pretty fast."

"Good to hear Jauney-boy." I say back with a slight chuckle. "We'll be here when you get back."

"That may have helped but it was still reckless Ruby." Weiss says. "I'm flattered you care about me so much but you can lose control like that, what if you had accidentally hit someone, what if you had passed out from so much energy exertion or worst of all what if she had taken control again?"

"Weiss I said I was sorry." I say shutting off my ear piece.

"That's not good enough Ruby, you scared the hell out of me." Weiss says. I felt really bad, I wasn't trying to scare her, I wasn't really thinking at all. I reverted to my shy reserved self that only came out around Weiss. I reached and grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry Weiss, I didn't mean to scare you...please don't be mad." I say meekly. She remains silent for a few minutes before letting out a soft exhale. She then turns around and makes me look her in the eye.

"Promise me that you won't lose control like that again." she says with a serious look in her eyes.

"I promise Weiss." I say trying to convince myself as much as I was her.

"Okay, I believe you." she says kissing my cheek.

After that we continued on our way back to the base. Once we arrived we headed straight for the medical ward to get Weiss' wounds treated where we were immediately met with the disapproving glare of Ironwood.


	19. Chapter 18

Wow this might be the most White Rose heavy chapter yet. XD Hope you guys enjoy and be sure to tune in to my Livestream that will go live at 8:30 est tonight. I will be playing several games including Psychonauts, Shantae: The Pirates Curse, and Mighty No.9. During this stream I will be taking questions about any of my current stories and just general discussion is cool too. :)

Chapter 18 -

Weiss' POV -

Ironwood looked seriously angry, like kind of scary angry. The last time I saw him this mad it was when he found out Qrow and Winter were a thing. It was kind of disconcerting then and now it's being directed at me and Ruby.

"General I-" I start to say before he cuts me off.

"Not another word!" he shouts. "You directly disobeyed my orders by allowing Ruby to not only walk around without her binds but even worse, you let her engage in combat with a deadly weapon!"

"Sir I convinced her to let me go, I wanted to prove myself so I begged Weiss to let me fight." Ruby says, trying to defend me. "So be mad at me not her."

"Oh trust me I was getting to you." he says with a scowl. "You potentially put all those soldiers in danger, and while it may have worked out this time, but what if it hadn't and you had gotten someone killed?"

"I-" she starts to say before Ironwood cuts her off.

"That's not even taking into account your little rage outburst, another example of you getting lucky but you could have just as easily roasted one of our own with that blast." he says showing no signs of calming down.

"True but with due respect General she didn't and a battle that quite frankly wasn't going in our favor she was able to turn around, if not for her the casualties could have been bad." I say coming to Ruby's defense now.

"She does have a point there James." Ozpin says walking into the room. "As it stands thanks to Miss Rose there have been zero casualties and only one major injury."

That implies that guy who got hurt didn't die which makes me feel relieved. It was also nice to have good old Ozpin coming to our defense again. Ironwood seems to ponder this and slowly the anger fades from his face and he exhales.

"That..is true." he admits. "Very well, I will let this insubordination pass with a warning this time but next time I will be forced to send you home is that clear?"

"Yes sir." Ruby and I both say at the same time.

"Good, for now Miss Rose I will grant you the ability to walk around freely and I will even allow you to be armed BUT you will have to continue being monitored, I will reluctantly allow Miss Schnee to continue with that duty." he says with clear reluctance in his voice. I don't blame him after all we did go against his orders. "Dismissed."

We both salute him and I was finally allowed to have my wounds treated. The doctor said that the claws didn't do any real damage but it will leave a scar, lucky me as if I don't have enough of those.

Afterwards Ruby and I head to my quarters to rest. Needless to say we were both exhausted after everything that went down today. Not to mention I had a surprise for her, I bought it to cheer her up and she could probably use that right now.

"Close your eyes." I say with a smile. Of course being Ruby she complies without question. I then pull out a brand new top of the line Scroll. "Open them up." she does and gasps.

"Is this the newest model?" she asks surprised.

"Yep, I knew your old one was probably lost or busted so I figure you could use a new one." I say leaning back on my bed.

"Weiss this is...to much, I can't accept this." she says looking almost like she feels guilty that I bought it.

"Nonsense, besides I am allowed to spoil my girlfriend aren't I?" I say with a smile.

"Well...okay but don't make it a regular thing, I'll feel bad." she says looking it over one last time. "Thank you Weiss, this was really sweet."

"No problem, just take care of it." I say, unable to suppress the blush that spreads across my face. Why does she have to be so damn cute. "Oh and I took the liberty of giving everyone your new info including your Dad back home, he said he was going to send you a message"

"Really?" she asks opening up her scroll to check. "Looks like he sent two." She opens them up and reads the first one out loud.

'Ruby

I am so glad that your safe and apparently doing better. You have no idea how worried sick I was and how badly I wanted to kill Qrow for not telling me sooner that you were safe. I will likely be out there soon to see you and Yang but first I really need to help Mom settle back in. Yes before you ask there was a fight and a lot of yelling...mostly from me. However I understand now why she did what she did and after all no matter how much I might try not to out of anger, I still love her. We have spent the last couple of nights just talking and sorting everything out. I was shocked to learn how sick she is, supposedly being the Maiden as long as she was really sapped her of her life energy and sadly the doctors say she might have another 10 years in her at best...so you and Yang need to finish saving the world as fast as you can so you can come home. We need to make the most of the time we have left to be a family again. I love you baby girl, please make sure you come home.

Love Dad'

"Well I am glad Dad and Mom made up at least." she says. "I just wish I could be there with Mom, make up for lost time."

"Well then I guess we need to kick the bad guys asses as fast as we can." I say which brings a smile to her face. "What about the other message?"

"Oh yeah" she says pulling it up. "Looks like this one is from Mom."

'Ruby

Hey sweetie, I am sure you heard in the other message but Dad and I are good. I don't think we can ever be like we used to be but it is nice to be back home with him again. The only thing that would make it better is if my girls were home with us. I know that you need to save the world and beat all the bad guys though, you are my daughter after all, so just try to finish as quickly as you can. Once you get home I am gonna make more cookies than you could possibly eat and I will do everything I can to at least try to begin to make up for my mistake with the time I have left. I wish we had more of it but I just want to spend it giving as much love as I can to the man I love and my two beautiful, strong daughters. So please come home to us as soon as possible. I love you more than you could possible imagine.

Love Mom'

Attached to the message was two pictures, one of their family presumably before Summer left and one of Summer and Taiyang, with two spots saved for Yang and Ruby.

"Yeah..we really need to finish this fight as soon as we can." she says, smiling and wiping a tear from her eye. I pull her up onto the bed and put my arm around her.

"I will do everything I can to get you back home as quick as possible Ruby." I say kissing the top of her head.

"Thanks Weiss, and when we do go home, you and I really need to go on an actual date." she says with a giggle.

"Definitely and who knows maybe someday, once the world is a safer place...maybe start a family of our own." I say with a bright blush, one that only deepens when she looks at me with surprise. Before long her look of surprise is replaced with a sweet smile that makes my heart flutter.

"Yeah, that sounds nice." she says before slowly climbing on top of me, pinning me gently to the bed. Then she places a gentle kiss on my lips, over time that kiss deepens further and further until we are full on making out. Suddenly I lose control of my hand and place it on Ruby's chest. When she gasps I quickly pull it away.

"S-Sorry." I say blushing and ashamed.

"For what?" she asks with a needy look on her face. When the realization dawns on me that she is okay with it I put my hand back and before continuing I look back at her for one last piece of reassurance. She nods which is good enough for me. The sexual tension only grows from there and before long well...lets just say neither one of got any rest for awhile.


	20. Update

Okay guys I know some of you may be shocked to see this update. Well honestly I have been through a lot this last year or so and I have made a lot of decisions that either didn't pan out or I just reversed on but it has all been a learning experience for me and through this I feel like I have become better as a writer, Video maker and person. With all that said not only have a relaunched my YouTube channels with higher quality production values than ever but I have decided to drop drawn art all together and stick to enhancing my writing ability. That being said I have made the decision to do what many of you asked for way back when and continue this story as is, finishing what I started. I hope you guys are still here and interested in seeing this finished, and if you are even after all the waiting and indecisiveness I put you through then I am touched and moved because that means the world to me, if not I understand it would be asking a lot for you guys to stick around this long hell if your pissed at me that's pretty justified as well but I can promise it won't ever happen again.

So yeah hopefully you guys will be looking forward to seeing this story finished because while I am not totally happy with how I wrote some aspects of it I still love it and personally see it as my best work so far and instead of redoing it am going to just finish it as is :) for updates on all that please feel free to follow me on twitter Dotaku101 or like the fan page on Facebook, to those of you still here I love all you guys and hope you enjoy what I have to write for you guys.


	21. Chapter 19

Well here it is the first chapter of this story I have posted in awhile, I really hope you guys enjoy it and it gets you pumped for what is to come :D I plan to post new chapters every weekend so lets keep our fingers crossed XD Oh and I won't really be doing these updates at the top of chapters or in between chapters anymore so if you guys want to be kept up to date on everything including my fanfiction you should follow me on Twitter Dotaku101 or like the Dotaku fan page on facebook. Anyway enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 19

RUBY POV

About a week has gone by since the Grimm attack where I basically went berserk. Thankfully not only have things been relatively quiet but construction on Earths Pillar is going smoothly and according to plan. Not to mention I am slowly getting better at controlling not only my Grimmiore abilities but also my Maiden powers. Things are still tense all over the kingdoms but all things considered things could be far worse.

I look around at what is essentially mine and Weiss' quarters , since I have pretty much slept here every night since well...anyway I look around until my eyes settle on the sleeping angel next to me. Ironwood gave us permission to sleep in tofay and she really is taking advantage of the opportunity. She really deserves it, according to her the last couple days are the only real rest she has had since I was taken. I feel bad she had to go through all of that but Id be lying if I said I wasn't touched that I mean that much to her.

I gently caress her cheek and can't help but smile at how beautiful she is. Her flowing snow white hair, her porcelain skin, even her scar, everything about her is just stunning. I place a gentle kiss on her forehead before that I should get ready for the day. I slowly and quietly slide out of the bed so I don't wake her. After I successfully make it out of the bed I tip toe to the dresser and grab my clothes, specifically the ones Weiss travelled into the nearest village to get for me, she is so sweet. I then quietly make my way to the bathroom and hop in the shower. After scrubbing myself clean I hop out and wrap myself in a towel. For some reason I decide to just take a quick look in the mirror, I have seen myself a few times since the transformation but it still bugs me every time I see how different I look. My hair has no tint of red at all anymore and is instead black as night, my eyes are bloody red and my hair has grown at least twice as long since I was captured. I barely recognize myself annymore, almost like I'm not me. Just as I am about to push that though out of my mind SHE feels the need to chime in.

"Of course you don't look like 'you' anymore because its NOT your body anymore, its mine." she says "Its only a matter of time till I get it back."

"Oh shut it, you haven't even come close to taking over since the Grimm attack and that was only because I let my anger get the better of me." I say as stern as I can. "You are never getting this body back so why don't you just stop bothering me for a change."

"I haven't come close because I haven't been trying, no point." she says so matter of factly I can't help but wonder what she means.

"That didn't sound like a 'I've won' kind of no point." I say.

"Just wait and see Rose, enjoy your time with your precious fuck buddy for now, because soon all that tension you were talking about, lets just say its going to explode and your all in the blast radius." she says chuckling, obviously amused by her own stupid explosion analogy. I just sigh and put my clothes on, deciding arguing with her was pointless. I step outside to see Weiss sitting at her desk, still in her nightgown and messing around on her scroll.

"Hey Weiss, hope you weren't waiting on the shower for to long." I say sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Not really, I literally just woke up a few minutes ago, glad to see you wearing the new clothes." she says looking up from her scroll.

"Oh yeah, I couldn't wait to try them on, how do I look." I say as I strike a fake sexy pose. Weiss blushes slightly and smirks at me.

"Oh shut it, you how I would answer that question you dolt, you may as well not even ask." she gets up from the desk and kisses me. I kiss her back before she pulls away and heads into the bathroom. "I'll be out shortly and then we can get to our patrol duties." she says and closes the door.

"Alright, can't wait!" I shout so she can hear me behind the closed door.

Honestly what the other me said is still bothering me but she was right about one thing. I am going to enjoy every moment with Weiss I can get.

WEISS POV

An Hour Later

Another quiet day, Ruby and I are nearly finished patrolling our sector of Earths Pillar and we haven't seen or heard a thing. Not that I am complaining, its great spending so much time with my fri-I mean girlfriend, that is going to take some getting used to. Its also pretty awe inspiring to see what was already a massive installation being made even bigger than Amity Colloseum. Not to mention the fact that it is pretty much the nerve center of all the other Atlas installations across the kingdoms and will stand ready to dispatch thousands of robots, mechs, and soldiers to multiple locations if any attacks are reported. Those Grimmiore have no idea what humanity is capable of but whenever they decide launch their offensive, whatever it is, they will find out.

"This place really is amazing isn't it?" Ruby asks.

"Yeah it is." I respond sharing the sentiment.

"Not just the installation itself or the weapons or even the network of smaller installations." she says with a big smile. "Its also the fact that we have workers from Vale, Mistral and Vacuo, Soldiers and Scientists from Atlas, and Huntsman from all over who are coming together to make this plan a reality so we can stop the greatest enemy Humanity has ever faced its really inspiring that when push comes to shove we really can get along."

She really is very optimistic about people. Its one of the things I love about her but it is still slightly optimistic, sure it seems like getting along on the surface but the Kingdoms have never really gotten along underneath at all at least as far back as I can remember. They are just scared and reluctantly siding with each other so they don't die...still I suppose that it doesn't matter because people are still working together regardless and I guess maybe my view of people in general may be slightly pessimistic.

"Yeah its definitely great to see everyone working together." I say half agreeing with her.

Suddenly a soldier runs up to us looking quite frantic.

"Miss Rose and Miss Schnee we have a problem." he says saluting us.

"At ease, what is the problem?" I ask wondering what could possibly be wrong, I doubt this is how we'd find out about Ravens big plan.

"We captured one of the Grimmiore ma'am." he says shocking both Ruby and I.

"Excuse me?" I ask both wondering what a Grimmiore was doing here and how they managed to capture one.

"Well I suppose capture is the wrong word, she sort of...gave herself up." he says confusing us even more.

"Take us to her." Ruby says.

"Yes ma'am." he says turning around and heading for wherever they were holding her.

After a solid few minutes of walking we were lead into the newly repaired holding facility and saw Hebi sitting inside one of the cells.

"Hebi?" Ruby asks walking up to the cell. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Hebi seems hesitant to look at Ruby, part of me wants to kill her as soon as I see her, she was partly responsible for the Earths Pillar Massacre after all. She has some nerve showing her face around here.

"Ruby I...I am here to make amends for everything that I have done, under Mothe-...Ravens leadership I did horrible things that lead to a lot of peoples deaths including...including my brother Allan." she says looking on the verge of tears.

"What make you think I believe that, or that I can trust you." Ruby says looking pretty pissed.

"I figured you wouldn't, hell I wouldn't after everything I have done but I am done having throwing a centuries old temper tantrum, Allan was himself in the end and I want to be able to say the same." she says which seems to soften Ruby's expression a bit but she still has a stern look on her face. "I don't expect you to ever forgive me but I need to tell you something that means life or death for humanity."

"You aren't talk about Raven's plan are you?" I ask now deciding to chime in.

"Indeed, I barely managed to escape from her and Lucious before making my way here, and I am here to tell you that what they are planning can be stopped but you need to strike now!" she says with a sense of urgency.

"What do you mean?" I ask. "What is she planning?"

"She plans to travel to the central continent, you know the one anyone is forbidden to go to, and break the seal on the Ancient One." Hebi says sounding slightly terrified.

"Who is the Ancient One?" Ruby asks kneeling to be eye level with Hebi.

"Officially she is just legend but in reality she is very VERY real, she has been around since the time of the original Maidens and the Wizard and she is insanely powerful." she says giving me chills.

"How powerful we talking?" Ruby asks.

"So powerful she makes you and Raven look like common thugs by comparison." she says. "You know how us Grimmiore are made by injecting the essence of a Grimm into a human?"

"Yeah so?" Ruby responds.

"Well the Creatures of Grimm are essentially just the offspring of the God of Darkness, left here before he and his brother the God of Light abandoned Remnant so when we take their power we are only getting a fraction of a fraction of the power he possessed." she says making me more worried with every word. "but her...she has been around since ancient times and she along with the Wizard were imbued with some of their power, a much larger amount than we ever got, making her essentially a demi-god."

"A demi-god?" Ruby asks making sure she had heard that correctly.

"Yes and she goes by many names...we call her the Ancient One, back then some called her the Wicked Witch but many old texts simply refer to her as Salem." she says obviously feeling the same chills we are.

A long silence filled the room after that. Ruby and I were desperately trying to process everything we had just heard. It was an insane amount to take in and honestly I am not even sure if I believe it but...if its true then we need to move fast.

"Okay say we believe all of this..how long do you think we have to stop her?" I ask stepping closer.

"Three days, definitely no more than that, she is making her move as we speak." she says.

"Okay wait, if she could do this why wasn't it part of the plan before?" Ruby asks.

"I'm not sure to be totally honest, I am not even sure how she plans to do it." she says. "If I had to guess though she probably intended to wake Salem up once she had begun her crusade against humanity, making it easier to gain access to the central continent and pleasing Salem all in one but with Plan A fallen apart she is likely desperate and willing to do anything to regain an upper hand even if it means reporting her failure to Salem in person."

Ruby and I share a contemplative look, trying to decide what we should do with this information but I'm not sure and judging by her look neither is she. There is one thing we do know though if she is telling the truth and we don't act we are all doomed.

"You!" I say turning and pointing at one of the guards.

"Yes ma'am?" he says turning and saluting me.

"Report to General Ironwood right away and tell him we are requesting a meeting with the Pillar Council right away!" I order.

"Yes ma'am!" he shouts before running off out the door.

"What about me?" Hebi asks.

"Your to stay under lock down until further notice, we'll decide what to do with you at the meeting." I say.

She looks dejected but she seems to accept what I said. I touch Ruby's shoulder and signal her to follow me outside into the hall.

"So you think she is telling the truth?" I ask her. "You know better than I do."

"I don't know for sure, I mean it seems like it but I find it hard to trust her, I barely did before but after she helped Raven free me and let me kill all those people its just...really hard to see why she would have a change of heart like this." Ruby says.

I can see how torn up she is by this. I mean Hebi may have been one of her kidnappers but she had wanted to believe that like Allen, Hebi had some good in her left. Its one of her best qualities is seeing the good in people when no one else can. However everything she did I can see hows its hard for even Ruby to see anything but evil in her anymore.

"but...regardless I have a feeling she is telling us the truth about Ravens plans at least, can't say what her motivation is but that much I feel like she is being honest about" she says shooting me a serious look. " and if she is then we need to do something before its to late."

"Agreed." I say nodding and walking for the main building where the war room is located. "Lets just hope we can convince the council."


	22. Chapter 20

Hey guys I hope you enjoy this chapter :) I know it is kind of short but I hope you like it anyway ^^'

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter Dotaku101 or follow the official Dotaku fanpage on facebook to get updates on everything I am up to :)

Chapter 20

Ruby POV

All the team leaders and council members currently stationed at Earths Pillar were already here and the rest were here via hologram the only person we were waiting on was Winter, she seems to be having a lot of trouble getting around recently and its really slowing her down, I wonder what that is all about. Suddenly my thoughts are interrupted by her walking in through the big double doors.

"My apologies everyone, I regret to say I got ill in my quarters so I was a bit held up." she said as she went a took a seat at the table.

"That's fine Winter, I hope everything is alright." he says, concerned for his second in command.

"Yes sir, I feel...mostly fine now." she says with a bit of hesitation. She then takes her seat next to Uncle Qrow.

"Well that's certainly good to hear." Ironwood says before standing up to start the meeting. "Hello everyone and thank you for coming, I have been informed Miss Rose and Miss Schnee have some pretty...troubling news to share with us."

"Thank you sir." Weiss and I both say as he sits down and we stand up.

"Today a Grimmiore by the name of Hebi surrendered herself to us and we currently have her locked up in a holding cell." I say.

"Which would be great if not for the info she gave us regarding her 'former' boss Raven Branwen." Weiss adds. "She told us that after their original plan was torn thoroughly to pieces by our forces that she has grown desperate."

"Desperate like how?" Jaune asks leaning forward.

"Desperate like she is about to do something that if we don't stop her will mean death for all of us." I say. "She plans to free her boss from some sort of seal."

Ozpin seems to noticeably tense up when he hears this.

"Surely whoever this is can't possibly be powerful enough to stand up to the forces we have now, even with the remaining Grimmiore forces they have to back them." says one of the Atlas Commanders.

"I am afraid our numbers may be irrelevant if she is brought back." Weiss says.

"Who IS this person." says Ozpin looking quite worried, almost as if he already knows.

"Well Hebi said that long ago she went by the name...Salem." I say which causes Ozpin to grit his teeth, this is the most upset I have seen him ever.

"I can't believe she would go that far..." Ozpin says under his breath.

"Oz do you know something about this?" Qrow asks.

"I am...intimately familiar with Salem." he says. "Legend has it Salem also known as the Wicked Witch and the Wizard were human conduits for the power of the Gods of Light and Darkness, they were extremely powerful and constantly were in competition for the future of mankind."

"How do you know so much about this Professor?" Weiss asks.

"Well I am the headmaster of a Huntsman Academy Miss Schnee, knowing things is kind of necessary." he says which was kind of an obvious answer. "Regardless after over a century of the two interfering with the lives of man the Wizard decided he had enough and confronted Salem, the battle was unfathomable, the state of the central continent as we know it today was entirely formed by their fight."

I have to say Ozpins story wasn't doing much to make me feel better about the situation.

"Eventually after nearly dying himself he was able to seal Salem into an eternal sleep, it took nearly all of his power he only had a fraction of it left, after he sealed her away he decided to live out the rest of his days in solitude until...well you know the story of the Maidens." he says capping off his story and leaving the entire room in awe. "So all that said if this Hebi girl is telling the truth..then we NEED to do something and soon because if she is freed then the odds of us being able to stop her are virtually impossible."

All the highest ranking officers and huntsman in the room all share looks that essentially say 'what should we do?', none of us were really sure what the next move should be.

"Okay." Jaune, a.k.a the new chief strategist of Earths Pillar, says standing up. "If this is true then I move that we send a strike team of eight or so huntsman to the central continent to try and get to the Shrine of Salem before Raven does and stop her dead in her tracks."

"Say we go with this plan Mr. Arc, why not send a small army to head her off just in case?" the captain of the guard asks.

"I thought about that and while we can definitely have one follow behind the strike team as backup, the strike team needs to get there as fast as possible and even a small army would slow them down, time is potentially very limited." Jaune says.

"Okay wait wait." the same jerk who tried to have me killed says. "We don't even know if that freak is telling the truth, why should we waste so much valuable time and so many resources on what could be nothing but an attempt to distract us from the current progress we have made."

I'd like to say that he wasn't making a good point...but I can't and everyone else seems to agree based on the look on their face.

"Well" Uncle Qrow says leaning forward onto the table. "what it comes down to is if we do this operation and it turns out to be bogus, then we just wasted time and resources possibly giving Raven a bit of headway to get the jump on us but if it is true and we do nothing, we are all going to die so I second Jaunes plan."

"Agreed," Ozpin says. "I am with you ."

"Alright" Ironwood says rising from his seat."all in favor of this plan please raise your hands."

All except like two people, one of which is the jerk of course, raise their hands.

"All opposed?" Ironwood asked.

The only two to raise their hands were the same people.

"Well there you have it , who do you propose for this strike team?" Ironwood asks sitting back down.

"Well I'd like to be on this mission myself to oversee that it goes smoothly so as much as going to an island inhabited by scary witch sounds awful, I and my partner Pyrhha Nikos will be going, assuming that is okay with her?" he asks looking at her.

"Of course hun." she says smiling.

"Great." he says smiling back at her. "As for the rest of the team I propose Qrow Branwen, Winter Schnee, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and-"

"Mr. Arc." Winter says interrupting him.

"Yeah, whats up?" he asks.

"I...can't go on this mission." she says.

"Why?" he asks.

"Yeah why?" Qrow asks immediately after.

"We'll talk about it later Qrow." she says sternly. "I'm sorry Jaune but I just can't go."

"Oookay." he says. "You still in Qrow?"

"Yeah...yeah I am still in kid." he says.

"Good, so in Winters place I propose we bring Penny instead, if that is okay with the General." he says gesturing towards Ironwood.

"Very well, Penny has been needing some time to try out the new upgrades anyway." Ironwood responds nodding.

"Great, now for the rest of the team I request Neo, Yang and...the Spring and Fall Maidens." Jaune says which immediately gained disapproving looks from Qrow, Ozpin, and Ironwood.

"Why exactly do you suggest we send them?" Ironwood asks.

"Yeah kid you do realize that if something were to happen to them we would REALLY be up shit creek without a paddle." Qrow adds.

"Yes I am aware but if this is all true and if our team doesn't make it in time, and this is all just assumption and theory, but I imagine our best bet is to try and stop her when she is at her most vulnerable which would be right after waking up and to do that we'll need all the power we can get." he says which seems to slightly win them over. They still don't respond right away, all sharing knowing looks with each other before Ozpin finally speaks.

"Very well , as the main caretaker of the maidens I will request that they join your strike team BUT it will be up to them whether or not they do is that clear?" Ozpin says making his point very clear.

"Of course, I would never want someone to go on a mission like this unless they wanted to, that being said I really hope they do cause I have a feeling we will need them." Jaune says sitting down.

"Very well, does anyone else have anything to add?" Ironwood asks. No one says anything so he calls the meeting to a close, asking us to meet back tomorrow where the plan will be finalized and the strike team will be deployed.


	23. Chapter 21

Once again kind of short but things are just really hectic in general right now ^^' its been hard to work on my Youtube or my fanfiction lately but I hope you guys like it anyway :) Don't forget to follow me on Twitter for updates Dotaku101

Chapter 21

Ruby's POV

"Weiss...are you sure your okay going on this mission?" I ask her as we are preparing to head out.

"What do you mean, of course I am." Weiss says holstering Mysternaster.

"Well after what you just found out I figured you might wanna stay with your sister." I answer packing my things.

(Immediately after the morning meeting)

Weiss' POV

"So Winter...why did you call Ruby and I here?" I ask sipping from the tea Winter had served us. She and Qrow were sitting right across from us looking rather...nervous about something.

"Well Weiss I'm not sure how to say this but...there is a good reason why I won't be going on the mission." Winter says holding Qrows hand.

"What would that be?" I ask now very curious as to what she means and judging by the look on Ruby's face so is she.

"Weiss, Ruby.." Qrow speaks up this time. "Winter and I are having a baby."

Ruby and I are both immediately stunned but before I could even think of what to say Ruby jumps out of her seat and hugs them both.

"Congratulations you two!" she practically shouts. "I can't wait to meet my little cousin!"

"Thanks kiddo." Qrow says hugging her back. "I some how knew this would be your reaction."

"Y-Yes congratulations, you two must be very happy." I say smiling as I finally have a bit of time to process this.

"Well we are worried especially with the way the world is right now but yes we are happy, we've been trying at this for a few months now." Winter says with a soft smile and puts her hand on her stomach. I would be lying if I said I didn't share her worries but for now I push them aside and stand to hug my sister.

(Present)

Ruby's POV

"So if you don't want to go I understand." I say and she looks at me like I said something pretty stupid again.

"You dunce that is exactly why I want to go now more than ever, I have a niece coming into this world and I will do everything I can to make sure it is safe world for her." she says as she finishes packing her things. I can't help but smile and hug her from behind.

"Your so amazing Weiss..." I say resting my head against her back. "Who knows...maybe after all this is over...we could have a baby.." I say nervously. I can feel her tense up as I say that and I get even more nervous.

"Yeah..." she says turning around to face me before kissing me, filling my chest with butterflies like only she can. "..maybe."

With that we both grab our things and head toward the Airship bay. We arrive and notice the rest of the strike team including the Maidens, the three we know of anyway, who agreed to go on this mission when they heard how vital it was. Uncle Qrow, who decided to go for the same reason Weiss did, was boarding an airship with the Maidens. Jaune, Pyrrha and Penny were boarding another airship with some 3.0 model Atlesian Knights. Weiss and I head towards our ship and board it where Yang and Neo were already waiting for us, along with a couple of Atlas Soldiers who are supposed to pilot the two Paladins we are bringing with us.

"Alright everyone" Jaune says over the ships intercoms. "as you all know this mission is not only vitally important but seriously dangerous, if anyone would like to back out, now is your last chance."

Everyone looks at each other sharing a knowing look of determination. No one was going anywhere, we all knew that if the intel we had turned out to be true, there was no way we could back down.

"I kinda figured that would be everyone's answer but just thought I'd ask anyway." he says with what I imagine is his signature cheesy grin. "Now everyone get ready for take off, in approximately four hours we will be at Salem's continent and begin our one hour trek to her tomb."

Right as he hung up the intercom the doors to the shuttles close and we lift off out the gigantic bay doors towards our mission. We didn't say anything for awhile not sure what to say to each other as we fly towards what may be our deaths but eventually we just sat and talked about our fun days back at beacon, the dangers we've faced, and what we will do if...when we succeed. Eventually about an hour away from our destination my scroll began beeping and I pulled it out to see that it was dad was trying to video call me. I answered it as quick as I could and I saw him and Mom smiling at me.

"Hey there sweetie." Mom says. "We know your on your way to a very important mission but we just really wanted to talk to you before you got there."

"Is Yang there?" Dad asks. "We really want to talk to her too."

"Yeah I'm here dad." she says getting out of her seat despite the pilots warnings and squeezing in next to me. "How are things back home?"

"Things are going as good as they can be all things considered." Dad says. "Summer and I have pretty much sorted everything out and we have some news."

"Whats that?" I ask just happy to see them together again.

"Well..your father and I have decided to get remarried!" Mom says very cheerfully.

"Really?" Yang and I both ask at the same time.

"That's great you two!" Yang shouts.

"We hoped you guys would be happy about it." Dad says with a big smile.

"Are you kidding?" I ask. "We are ecstatic!"

"Thank you sweetie." Mom says. "That being said you two need to hurry and save the world so you can come home before the wedding...and so we can all be a family again."

"I promise mom, we will be home before you know it." I say smiling as big as I can, knowing full well I can't really promise that.

"Well we'll let you two get to it." Mom says. "Just know your father and I love you bo-"

Suddenly the call is cut off and the screen goes blank. We all look at each other confused wondering what that is all about. I was about to chalk it up to interference from Salems continent on weak devices like scrolls but then Jaune comes up over the intercom.

"Everyone we just lost communication with HQ and as far as we can tell it is being caused by CCT Tower failure." he says causing us all to immediately worry. "I know we are all probably worried by both those facts but we can't turn back now, hopefully there was just unscheduled maintenance at one of the towers but if now...well we'll just have to hope everyone back home has it covered."

"I really hope my intuition is wrong on this one." Weiss says nervously clenching her fists.

"What are you thinking?" I ask scooting closer to her.

"Well it seems obviously convenient that this CCT thing happens while we are on our way to such a crucial mission." Weiss says looking more worried than the rest of us.

"You think that Raven is up to something?" I ask.

"I'm not sure but it just doesn't sit right with me, something doesn't feel right." she says just as we get the announcement that we are about to land and dispatch. "Well maybe I'm just being paranoid."

As we are unboarding this whole situation really begins to bug me. Weiss is right it does feel to convenient that this is happening now then again if something bad were going down the other me wouldn't be able to shut up about it and I haven't heard fro-...I-I haven't heard from her since yesterday.


	24. Chapter 22

Sooooooo sorry for the delay on this one guys I have just been super busy lately q.q but I personally think this is one of the better chapters I have written in awhile and it is a decent length so hopefully that semi makes up for it ^^' Enjoy! Oh and shameless plug don't forget to follow me on Twitter my username is Dotaku101

Chapter 22

Ruby POV

"So let me get this straight" Weiss says with a mixture of worry and frustration. "The psychotic murdered living in your head has been silent for days and you are only now just noticing?"

"Yes..." I say, realizing how dumb I must look.

"Great.." Weiss exclaims as she plops down onto a nearby log while rubbing her temples. "Well...when was the last time you heard from her?"

"Hmm..." I actually have to think to myself for a moment. "Probably..right before captured Hebi, afterwards she just sort of stopped talking, I thought it was weird but so much was going on I just sort of spaced it until now."

"So let me get this straight the other you goes quiet, Hebi surrenders herself to us out of the blue, and as we are coincidentally on our way to stop the Grimmiore leader from unleashing an ancient evil upon the world the CCT just happens to go down?" she asks looking like she is about to lose it.

"Yeah that about sums it up." I say as I plop down next to her and put my hand on her back.

"Ruby...this whole thing reeks of fish." she says looking up at the dark red sky that surrounds this continent.

"Yeah it does, but what are we supposed to do?" I ask. "Its not like we can just turn back."

"No we can't, we've come to far to turn back now, but I still can't shake the feeling that the world outside of this hellhole is dealing with something big and what's worse its happening while we are cut off from them." she says looking worried sick. Not like I can blame her, I mean aside from all the other innocent people we swore to protect, her sister and soon to be born niece are out there and she can't even call them to see if they are okay. I mean I'm worried sick myself, my parents and sister are out there...but I have to stay strong for Weiss.

"I'm sure even if something is going down, the friends we left behind can handle it, they are some of the toughest huntsman and huntresses in the history of remnant after all." I say trying to comfort her.

"Yeah...I suppose that is true." she says letting out a sigh.

"Besides" I say putting a hand on her shoulder. "we have to focus on OUR mission, we need to stop Raven from freeing Salem."

"Yeah..your right Ruby." she says shooting me a determined look before she hugs me. "Thank you."

As I am about to respond Jaune calls out that our rest stop is over and that it is time to move out. We all gather our things and continue our march toward the Witch's Temple. The whole way we are under constant attacks from Grimm, we expected there to be a lot but this is insane, it is the highest concentration of Grimm I have ever seen occur naturally. The horde that washed over Earths Pillar has nothing on this, sure they were more packed together but this is like giant wave of Grimm washing over this entire continent, its like we ran into the hive.

It doesn't take long before we see the Temple in the distance and are happy to see it still looks relatively dormant for now, aside from the hundreds of Grimm surrounding it that is.

"Dammit, this could be a problem." Jaune says surveying the large hordes surrounding the temple, close enough to see them but not to be seen thankfully. "Though from the looks of it the Grimm refuse to actually set foot on Temple grounds, not sure why but if my theory is correct that means we just have to make it to the other side."

"What do we do Jaune?" Pyrrha asks having complete faith in her partner as always.

"Well...its not gonna be easy but we should be able to do this, with the maidens help of course." he says turning to them.

"Well that is why we are here." the Fall Maiden or Dusk says flashing a reassuring smile.

"Yeah let us at them!" the Spring Maiden otherwise known as Cordelia says pumping her fist into the air.

"What about you Ruby, you have a handle on your Maiden abilities yet?" Jaune asks.

"I can't do anything to flashy but I think I can manage." I answer feeling more sure of my abilities than before.

"I'll take it." he says as he begins to draw out a plan in the sand. "First what I need from you maidens is to use your elemental powers to form a sort of barrier on each side of the strike team to keep Grimm from coming at us from the sides."

"Sounds doable." says Dusk with an affirmative nod.

"Yeah I guess..pretty boring though." says Cordelia looking pretty disappointed.

"I'm pretty sure I can pull that off." I say releived its not something more complicated.

"Good now as for the rest of you" he continues drawing the diagram. "Our best fighters, that being Pyrrha and Qrow will be in charge of insuring the maidens are not harmed so they can focus on the barrier they will be very vulnerable so guard them closely."

"I will guard them with my life." Pyrrha holds her spear to her chest.

"Well aside from the fact that protecting them is my job, I care about these girls and one of them is my niece so I won't let anything happen to them." Qrow says with a cocky smirk.

"You better." Weiss says shooting him a stern look, making me blush in the process.

"Good now as for Yang, Penny, and Weiss I need you three upfront with the Atlesian Paladins to forge a path for us to the temple." he says realizing their job may end up being the most difficult out of a group of insanely difficult tasks.

"You can count on us Jaune!" Yang says slamming her fists together.

"Affirmative, those Grimm don't stand a chance." Penny adds with that dorky but adorable smile of hers. Other than Weiss, Penny has to be the most adorable of us all.

"Great, now finally Neo and I since we are the least useful in this situation we will be watching the rear to pick off any stragglers who try to get us from behind along with the Atlesian Knights, don't get me wrong their will probably be a lot of stragglers attacking from behind but nothing compared to the numbers in front of and to the side of us so we should be able to handle it." he says looking to Neo for approval.

Neo just pulls out her phone and types out a message that reads 'sounds good to me, but you two' she points to Weiss and Penny 'better make sure Yang makes it out okay or Salem will be the least of your problems.'. This of course causes Yang to turn bright red. Weiss just nods reassuringly at Neo.

"Don't worry I know how you feel, its scary to not be able to have the back of the person you love so you can fill the role the teams needs you to fill, I'm sure more than a few of us feel this way." she says earning a few nods from people in the group. "I can assure you though, we will not let our teammates hit the ground until we ourselves are on the ground, so while its normal to worry we all need to focus on doing our jobs and get this mission done."

"Well said Weiss" Jaune says smiling and standing up the rest of following him. "Remember the world is counting on us, this could possibly be one of if not the most important mission in the history of Remnant so everyone lets give it everything we've got!"

He pumps his fist in the air and we all do the same.

With our morale now hitting the sky we make our way towards the horde of Grimm and as we enter the valley around the Temple the horde spots us. After a brief moment of hesitation they begin to charge at us. In flash the other Maidens and I get into position and raise our giant walls of elemental power. Walls of flame, razor sharp leaves pushed by tornadic winds, and thick impenetrable living vines. This immediately halts any advances from our sides as Jaune planned. We begin to move forward as fast as we can, as good as this plan was their was one problem we were all aware off, our powers were tied to our Aura which slowly depletes over time. If we don't reach the end before our powers run out we are screwed.

Hard to deny though this is pretty awesome, with us Maidens at the side and some of the best fighters in the world at the front and back not to mention all the high tech weaponry, we are effectively and enormous living super powered tank. We are carving a path through these Grimm like an unstoppable force of nature.

"How we doing Kiddo?" Uncle Qrow asks keeping a close eye on me while Pyrrha watches the other two.

"Great Uncle Qrow, I mean not only do I finally have a handle on my powers without that psycho but we are awesome!" I shout back in genuine excitement.

"Yeah..you can say that again, your generation never ceases to amaze me and that's a true accomplishment." he says with his signature smirk.

Before long we have reached the halfway point and we Maidens are still doing good on Aura levels. The only negative is the front is starting to tire out but its not much longer till we reach the other side.

'Feeling pretty good about ourselves aren't we?'

My eyes grow wide as I shocked to hear the sudden return of my other self.

'What the hell, why no-' I begin to say to her when suddenly a shooting pain flairs through my head and I grip my head in pain with one hand, trying my best to hold the other up to maintain the barrier.

"Ruby whats wrong!?" Uncle Qrow asks running to my side.

"Its her!" I shout. "Shes back and she's trying to make me lower the barrier!"

"Are you serious!?" he shouts looking legitimately freaked out which is not something I'm used to seeing from him before he returns to his cool and calm look. "Just hold on Kiddo, its not much longer now, fight her you are stronger than she is."

'Lies, you know as well as I do that you are weak and on top of that why do you think I've been gone, mother delivered orders through Hebi'

'Hebi betrayed us!'

'No she was sincere, but before she escaped mother implanted a message in Hebi's mind, where she knew only I could find it and told me to rest and save my energy so that I could use it at the best possible moment to sabotage your precious little mission.'

'No...'

'and I'd say this is a pretty damn good moment.'

She begins wreaking havoc on my mind, the pain is becoming unbearable and my body is getting harder and harder to keep standing let alone keep up this barrier. Finally despite my best efforts it all becomes to much and I collapse to the ground. The barrier falls along with me and the rest of the team is both terrified and shocked to see the barrier on our right flank is no longer up. The last thing I see is Uncle Qrow standing above me and defending me from a Grimm before I black out.

Weiss POV

"What the hell happened!?" I shout forming a temporary ice wall between the Grimm and the front team.

"Something must've happened to Ruby, but what could that be she had Qrow watching over her?!" Yang shouts fighting off Grimm from the front.

"I'm going to check on her, you think you two can handle this for now?" I ask reinforcing the Ice Wall.

"Yeah but I can't say for how long, just hurry!" Yang shouts almost getting hit by an Ursa before Penny blocks the blow.

"Please miss Weiss, make sure Ruby is okay." Penny says continuing to fight off Grimm as well.

"You got it!" I shout before running towards the group of Maidens. It doesn't take long for me to spot an unconscious Ruby and a determined Qrow fending off Grimm with her slung over his shoulder. Pyrrha is now working overtime to protect the other two Maidens who are attempting to maintain their barriers. "Qrow!" I shout to get his attention.

"Ice Princess, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!" he shouts back before returning his attention to the Grimm. I run to his side and summon my Knight familiar to help fight these guys off I figured we might need it so I was saving him for an emergency and I'd say this counts.

"What happened!?" I ask both confused and slightly panicky. "Is she okay!?"

"Shes fine!" he responds. "Her evil side came back and somehow knocked her unconcious!"

I'm both relieved and even more panicked, without Ruby there is no way we can hold this up without a ton of luck and even then its unlikely we will all make it out. This can't be happening, why did she have to come back now!

My thoughts are interrupted by a group of Alpha Beowolves attacking my Knight. He is holding his own but even he has limits and he is about to reach them. I lunge toward the group hoping to lighten his load by taking out as many of them as I can. For now it seems to be working and we are holding our own but just barely. If even one of us was out of commission we'd be dead, suddenly I see a black blur run by out of the corner of my eye towards Qrow and Ruby. Looking more closely I am able to make out that it is Lucien! What the hell is he doing here now of all times!? I turn to shout out to Qrow and warm him since he is so distracted by the Grimm he probably wouldn't notice him but before the words can even leave my throat he is suddenly behind Qrow.

"Qrow lookout!" I scream as loud as I can but just as my words reach him Lucien's blade is rammed through his back and out his chest. No...

Qrow collapses to the ground, blood pouring out of him at an alarming rate. I rush to him to try and give him first aid but I suddenly cut off by another group of Alphas.

"Sorry princess but looks like bird brain is dead!" he shouts, kicking Qrows now unnaturally motionless body.

"No..." the word escapes my mouth as a wave of realization washes over me. My teammate, my brother-in-law, Ruby's Uncle, and the father to my niece is dead. My entire body goes almost numb, they did it again, they took someone else from us...no.

"Now if you'll excuse me!" he shouts as he bends over and picks up Ruby. "She is coming back with me!"

NO!

"It was a good effort but it looks like your little friends are gonna die here and then the world will belong to us!" he shouts finally snapping me back into reality.

"NO!" I shout before instinctively raising my hand and shooting a shard of ice into his arm and then with the same hand, entrap his feet in thick ice, much harder than the ice I usually make with dust.

"What the hell!?" he shouts as he grabs his arm in pain and drops Ruby to the ground. "How are you doing that!?"

Its a good question how was I doing this and why am I only now able to do it? Good questions that can wait, for now I have to save my friends. I glide over to Ruby on a sheet of Ice and pick her up off the ground.

"No!" Lucien shouts in rage, using his good arm to shoot at us but I use my free arm to block the shots with a shield of Ice.

I run up to Pyrrha and hand her Ruby.

"Weiss what happened?" Pyrrha asks clearly worried for both Ruby and the mission.

"I'll explain later, just keep her safe please, I need to work on getting that wall back up." I say running off after I get an affirmative nod from Pyrrha.

I return to Ruby's station, shooting one last sad look at Qrow, promising to avenge him before I turn to face the encroaching horde, barely being kept at bay by my Knight but he is about to fall. Acting as fast I can I concentrate as hard as I can and right after calling the Knight back to my side I use the same power I used before to raise a wall of Ice , much larger and stronger than what I usually make stretching all the way from here to the edge of the Valley which have nearly reached. While not as effective as Ruby's fire wall in terms of taking them out while also keeping them at bay it should at least perform the latter duty effectively enough. Performing that act took nearly all of my energy though and I struggle to even stay on my feet.

"You think this changes anything!" Lucien shouts clearly more enraged than ever before, his eyes look practically rabid. "Mother and Salem will still kill you all, then we will rule the world!"

I take a deep breath then walk over to him slowly, never feeling more murderous intent in my life save for maybe the time I saw what Raven had done to Ruby. I raise the ice in his feet so it covers his body all the way up to his neck. Then I raise Myternaster to his neck.

"I don't know about the rest of it but you certainly won't be seeing this future regardless of what it holds." I say, my voice lacking any emotion. He actually does something I've never seen him do and actually starts shaking with fear.

"Your bluffing, you don't have it in you to murder a defenseless enemy." he says trying to look tough even now.

"Maybe not" I say which seems to calm him down a bit before I summon a glyph which a large white scarred Beowolf appears out of. "but I can turn a blind eye to a murderer being killed."

"No.." he says as I walk away leaving the Beowolf to have his way with him. "NO!"

I don't turn back to watch it, all I hear is the growling of my Beowolf and Luciens screaming followed by loud tearing sound and silence. I just walk over to Qrow and kneel down next to him, turning him onto his back. The tears begin to fill my eyes.

"I'm sorry Qrow...I'm so sorry, but I swear I will be there for Ruby, I'll be there for Winter and the baby, you can rest easy knowing that they will all be okay so long as I am breathing!" I see the tears now coming full force. I give myself another moment to grieve before I pick him up and toss him over my shoulder, refusing to leave him here.

I turn my attention back to the fight and realize the front team has managed to break through to the edge of the valley. I and the rest of the strike team rush forward to hook up with them, taking down straggler Grimm along the way before we finally break through to the edge of the Valley ourselves and make a mad dash for the temple.

Just as Jaune predicted the Grimm aren't following us onto Temple grounds which means we made it...well most of us. Man I am really not looking forward to telling Yang, Winter and...Ruby about Qrow.


	25. Chapter 23

Okay so this one is kinda short but its been a really rough week ^^' I still felt like I needed to get you guys something, just so you know btw there is important info about my fanfiction on my Twitter page so you may wanna go check it out if you haven't already my username is Dotaku101

RRTB

Ch. 23

The celebratory mood everyone was experiencing from having made it to the other side quickly subsided. With the adrenaline gone everyone began to really take in their surroundings and with that they took notice of an unconcious Ruby and a bloody, pale looking Qrow. Slowly the smiles drain from their faces and they are replaced with looks of dread and anguish. Yang in particular looked as though her emotions had become a ticking time bomb.

She silently walks over to Ruby, Qrow, and I before falling to her knees infront of them. Tears were silently falling from her eyes.

"What happened...?" she asked in the most emotionless tone I have ever heard from her. I try to respond but the words keep getting caught in my throat. "WEISS!" she shouts in both sadness and frustration.

"R-Ruby's evil side knocked her unconcious." I say forcing the words out through choked sobs. "She m-must've been waiting for an oportunity to sabotage us, Qrow tried to defend her but...Lucien made a surprise attack and caught us off gaurd...and he killed Qrow."

Yang didn't say a word for what seemed like an eternity. Her face had fallen so I could no longer see it.

"Why?" she asks in a monotone voice.

"W-What do you mean-" I start to ask before Yang's booming voice cuts me off.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU PROTECT HIM!?" she shouts and looks up at me with her piercing red eyes.

"Yang I tried I-" I say about to defend myself, the tears that were already falling from my eyes now flooding my face. Yang grabs me by the collar of my shirt and lifts me up off the ground as she stands to her feet.

"YOU WERE RIGHT THERE!" she shouts even louder. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE HIM!"

I couldn't figure out what to tell her. Honestly I had been asking myself what I could've done different that might of saved him and even though I know there is no way I could've I still felt a twinge of guilt. Yangs words only turned that twinge into a full sized knife through my heart.

Suddenly Neo walks up behind Yang and places her hand on Yang's shoulder, causing Yang to bolt around, almost dropping me. Neo holds up her scroll which reads 'No Yang, thats not fair, you can't blame Weiss for this.'

"LIKE HELL I CAN'T!" Yang shouts at her.

Neo types out another message. 'Yang its not her fault, the enemy played us, none of us saw this coming and there is no way we could've. No one is to blame for this, I'm so so sorry for what happened to Qrow but its wrong to blame Weiss like this.'

"I-!" Yang starts to shout but cuts herself off. "I know..."

She lets me down more gently than I thought she would before collapsing to her knees infront of Qrow again. This time the tears aren't silent, she is sobbing loudly.

"It's just not fair!" she shouts through the sobs. "He was the best uncle in the entire world, to both me and Ruby, he saved us more times than I can count and the one time he needs me I wasn't there!"

So that is it, she wasn't really blaming me, she blames herself and was just trying to cast the blame onto someone else. Not that I can blame her, I can only imagine how she must feel right now. Neo kneels down next to her and places a loving arm over her shoulder, holding her closely. I kneel down infront of her.

"Yang you can't blame yourself for this either." I say. "You had a job to do, you were keeping all of us alive, and Qrow would've been proud to know that you got us across...with or without him."

"I just...I just can't believe he is really gone." she says placing a hand on his head. She doesn't argue with me so she seems to accept my words at least a little. "He always seemed invincible, like he'd be around forever."

"Sadly no one lives forever..." I say remembering all the people we have seen die since we first arrived at Beacon 4 years ago and all the terrible things we've seen. As awful and painful as that was this seemed...different not only was Qrow a living legend but he was a dear friend time weathered friend and ally..it really was painful to know he was gone forever. "but at least he died like the hero he was."

Everyone just goes silent for the next few minutes after that until we are all shaken out of our trance by the moaning and shuffline of an awakening Ruby. I quickly move infront of Qrow blocking him from her sight. Yang knows what I'm doing so just gives me a nod. I decided its better to introduce this to her slowly.

"Wh-What happened?" she asks looking around groggily before spotting me. "Weiss..where are we?"

"We um we made it to the other side, we are outside the Witch's Temple." I answer having trouble looking her in the eye.

"Really?" she asks looking around again. "Well why does everyone look so sad."

"Ruby...we didn't...we didn't all make it across." I say trying my best to maintain eye contact. The look on her face is just so heartbreaking, and she doesn't even know who it is yet.

"Wh-Who didn't make it?..." she asks, her voice cracking. Once again it takes me a moment to respond, not sure how I should tell her. "Weiss?..."

"Ruby..Q-...Qrow didn't make it." I say before slowly moving out of the way to reveal his lifeless body.

"No..." she says in grieving disbelief. She turns to look at me, the sadness in her eyes almost overwhelming me.

"Yes Ruby...he's gone." I say about to cry again myself. She just crawls over toward him and pulls him into a hug, tears pouring down her face like waterfalls.

"Uncle Qrow!" she shouts, the grief in her voice breaking all of our hearts. She just holds him and cries like that for awhile. No one dares interupt her, we really need to get moving soon but she deserves to grieve for a little while.

"Who did this?..." she finally asks as the sobbing slowly comes to a stop. "I didn't do it did I?"

"No Ruby, Qrow said your evil side knocked you unconcious." I say putting my hand on her back.

"Thats..Thats right I do remember that now.." she says. "then who did do this?"

"Lucien launched a surprise attack once the flame wall fell...but for what its worth, I made sure he won't hurt anyone ever again." I say. No one asks me what I mean, they all know already.

Eventually Ruby lowers Qrow down onto the ground. After a few minutes we all decide its best to move on to the temple. We hide Qrow's body nearby for now so we can retrieve it when we call for evac. We are all still heartbroken by the loss, none more so than Ruby and Yang, but we still have a job to do.


	26. Chapter 24

RRTB Chapter 24

RUBY'S POV

Jaune sent a recon team of Neo and Weiss into temple to see if they could find Salem's tomb and to see if anymore Grimmiore had been sent ahead to ambush us. Weiss didn't want to leave my side but I assured her I would be okay...despite the fact that I am not but the mission comes first. I have a duty as a Huntress to protect the citizens of Remnant as best I can. My heart might be shattered into a thousand pieces right now but...I still have to stop Raven and her lackies. After that if I'm even still alive I'll head back to Earths Pillar..grab Hebi and-

"Ruby you okay?" Jaune asks kneeling down next to me and puts his hand on my shoulder. I try to fake a smile.

"Yeah I-I'll be alright." I say but Jaune sees right through it. Guess he's not my best friend for nothing...well aside from Weiss but that goes without saying.

"I'm so sorry for what happened back there, if only I had come up with a better plan-" he says starting to blame himself before I cut him off.

"No, don't you dare blame yourself, the plan was solid and the best we could've possibly come up with." I say glaring at him before looking back over towards the horizon. "It was her...that monster that caused Qrow's death.."

"Exactly." he says causing me to turn back and look at him. "It was that evil thing inside you that caused it, not you, so don't ever forget that."

"I...I know.." I say trying again not to cry. "it's a little easier to disconnect it from myself this time because it wasn't done with my own hands but still...when it's your own body that leads to someone's death even if you weren't directly responsible its hard to not blame yourself, even now its taking everything I have to not imagine his blood on my hands."

Jaune sits and puts his arm around me comfortingly. With that I give in and finally let the tears flow, I can't see for sure but I'm sure the rest of the team can see and hear me but at this point I just can't stop the tears from flooding my face.

WEISS' POV

Neo and I moved silently through the Temple, taking every oppurtunity we can get to hide in the shadows. This place definetly looks like no one has been here in centuries. The whole place is coated in a layer of dust and parts of it have started to crumble.

Then, after searching around for a good while, we stumble across a large pair of double doors made of stone. I give Neo a look that says 'should we open it?'. She nods in response and we both push the doors wide open. On the other side is a large chamber with glowing green crystals littered all over and at the very end of the chamber, a large almost crysalis like crystal with a pale women inside. Her entire body is covered in red almost crack like marks. She appears to be sleeping but the way her face is contorted doesn't denote peace at all, rather a fiery burning rage. I just get this feeling of anger and hatred pouring from her and this chamber, like a flame that has been burning for hundreds of years.

I begin to take a step inside before Neo extends her arm infront of me stopping me in my tracks. I give her a 'what gives?' kind of look and she responds by holding up her scroll which reads 'who knows what kind of insane booby traps this place has?'. That is...a very good point. I am almost mad at myself for making such an amateur mistake. She holds up her phone again, 'Best we just head back to the strike team for now and let Jaune know the coast is clear, he can decide what to do from there, besides this place is giving ME the creeps.'. I can definetly agree with that last part, this whole place just has an overwhelming aura of dread.

We make our way back to the front of the temple where, once outside, we see Jaune and the others setting up barricades to hold off any attack. The Atlesian Knights and Paladins were combing the perimeter along with Penny leading them. I notice Ruby perched on top of a stone colomn in sniper mode, most likely keeping an eye on the horizon to make sure the enemies can't get the jump on us. I wish I could go to her and see if she is okay, but first I have a job to do. Jaune notices us and runs up to us before we can go to him.

"Any good news" he asks. "because we could really use some good news right now."

"The inside of the temple is clear, it seems we beat Raven here." I answer. "There also doesn't appear to be any major structural damage for the enemies to exploit to flank us."

"Well that's good to hear at least, now we just have to focus on holding these forward defenses, which we really need being you know...down a man." he says looking pretty downcast.

Yeah...despite the good news it is kind of hard to be positive with that in mind.

'Thats not all' Neo types out on her scroll ' we found Salems chamber.'

"Good now we have a fixed point of defense, Weiss?" he asks looking at me.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"I need you and the maidens to hang back near the temple entrance and provide support from a distance." I was about to interupt him but he raises his hand up to cut me off. "I know that you would rather be up front with the rest of us BUT the maidens are to important and we someone with your skill to back them up."

"If that is what you think is best Jaune..." I say looking away slightly.

"Thanks Weiss." he says smiling before turning to shout. "Everyone huddle up!"

All the strike team members, including Penny and Ruby, ran up to Jaune, Neo and I. We stand in a circle around Jaune who has probably the most serious look I have ever seen on his face.

"Look...I know morale is low, we..we lost a legend today, Qrow was one of the best Hunters to ever walk Remnant." he says looking to Ruby. "More importantly though we lost a friend, an uncle, and a future father."

I look over to Ruby and she seems to be remaining surprisingly calm, but I can tell she is barely holding it together. I grab her hand, holding it in an effort to comfort her.

"As tragic as this is, we do not have time to grieve for him right now, there will be time for that later." he says turning to look at us all as he talks. "I know this sounds cruel but we are about to face the toughest battle we have ever faced or possibly ever will face, we have to ensure he didn't die in vain by doing everything we can to finish this mission and save everyone we left back home."

Everyone looks more and more determined and begin nodding their heads in agreement. Ruby has tears coming from her eyes but looks just as determined.

"This could very well be the most important moment in the history of the human race, if we fail here it could mean the end for everyone and everything, I wish I could tell you back up was on the way but it isn't." he says. "We are completely cut off here, we are all that is standing between humanity and obvlivion, so lets defeat that bitch Raven and make sure that evil freak never wakes up!"

As he finishes his sentence he raises his sword in the air prompting everyone else to raise their weapons and shout. For a brief moment, in spite of all the terrible things that have happened, our morale is boosted again through sheer determination. The moment is cut short however when a few of the Atlesian Knights start blaring their alarms. We all run to the edge of the Temple grounds and see what we had been waiting for. Raven and she is acompanied by a group of at least 30 Grimmiore, some of which look pretty tough. I don't know how she ammased such a large group but what matters right now is we have to hold them off.

Jaune shouts for everyone to report to their stations. Penny returns to the Atlesian mechs, giving them orders and reforming her blades into laser turret mode. Ruby returns to the stone colomn she was on, I allowed it since it was close to the entrance and from up there she can begin firing on them from afar. The other maidens and I stand near the entrance readying ourselves to fire projectiles. Jaune and the others form a defensive line between the Temple perimeter and us.

After a few moments of absolutely nerve wracking silence, quite suddenly the Grimmiore all let out a loud roar, likely trying to scare us and Ruby begins firing at them. They start running at us at high speeds, killing intent evident on their faces even from this distance. Penny and the other robots begin unloading on the crowd. They, along with Ruby, manage to pick off some of them. Nearly a third to be precise but within minutes they had already reached the perimeter.

As soon as they do Penny launches back using her thrusters so she can stand alongside the rest of the strike team. The Grimmiore absolutely tear apart the Atlesian Knights and before long take down the Paladins as well. It's inimidating to put it mildly seeing them tear through those mechs like that. Then the battle really began as they collided with the strike team. Yang and Neo were focused on Raven, trying their best to hold her off while the rest of the team deals with the weaker Grimmiore.

Pyrrha and Jaune are as usual nearly indestructible in their Ultimate Shield formation. Penny is taking them out pretty effortlessly while the Maidens, Ruby and I are unloading on them from a distance. If Ravens S-Rank pets were still alive this might be a much different battle but for now it seems like things are going in our favore, its still a very tough fight and these guys aren't going down easy by any means but we might actually be able to pull this off.

Then, as if the universe was trying to punish me for my confidence, I see Yang get sent flying into a pillar prompting Ruby to call out to her. Then a crazy eyed Raven, clearly growing desperate, comes flying at us at top speed. She is so fast I can't even track her movements. We all are firing at her trying to stop her in her tracks but she is dodging everything before, out of no where, right as she is about collide with us Ruby smashes into her and sends her flying. I see the look on Ruby's face and she has clearly deadly intent in her eyes which is not something I am accustomed to seeing on my Ruby's face...I don't like it.

Raven charges at Ruby and Ruby charges at her in return. They are both so fast its insane, its like watching lightning bolts clashing with eachother, each confrontation lasting mere seconds. I run towards Ruby to try and help her but Raven is just to strong for her to handle by herself and Ruby is knocked to the ground. Jaune sees this and orders the strike team, who had finished off the last of the grimmiore, to fall back and assis. Raven is standing over Ruby, blade drawn and ready to run her through, then suddenly she thrusts towards Ruby's heart.

"RUBY NO!" I shout as loud as I can.

Then..just as the words leave my mouth...Neo jumps between Raven and Ruby and takes the blade through her own chest. Raven, angry that her attack had been interupted, kicks Neo off of her sword and onto the ground. Neos blood is spilling out rapidly and the battlefield had grown quite, looks of shock adorning everyones face. Then out of the quite we hear a loud blood curtling scream and Yang is seen flying towards raven before throwing a fiery hot punch at her face. Raven barely manages to dodge it though and jumps up onto the roof of the temple.

"Yang, you and the maidens go inside and take Neo with you!" Jaune shouts which Yang almost ignores in anger before Jaune shouts again. "NOW!"

She manages to reign in her anger enough to do as she was told and pick up Neo. She and the other maidens run towards the inside of the temple while I help up Ruby. I look around at the rest of the team, they are barely holding on as it is..there is no way they can take on Raven without our help...well I guess that settles it then.

"Weiss we can't leave them!" Ruby yells as I drag her over toward the temple door.

"Ruby they need you inside, you are to important to this mission...and me." I say as we finall reach the door.

"Why are you..talking like you aren't coming?" she asks right before I shove her inside.

"I'm sorry Ruby, in case we don't speak again, I love you." I say as I slam the door shut.

"Weiss no!" Ruby shouts just as the door closes in her face.

I use my Ice Dust to freeze the door shut tight, even with her new strength it'll take awhile for her to break through that alone.

"Weiss what are you doing?!" Jaune shouts at me from behind, he and Pyrhha are holding off Raven together but barely.

"If nothing else" I say kneeling to the ground as several of my summons appear around me including my faithful Knight. "I am gonna wear this bitch down."

I charge at them along with all my summons, determined to make sure that at least Ruby will make it out of this alive.


	27. Chapter 25

Rest assure that you will be getting the 26th and final chapter tomorrow I just didn't have the time to type it out tonight regardless I hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)

Ch.25

Ruby's POV

"WEISS! NO!" I shout at the top of my lungs slamming on the door with my bare hands, trying desperately to get it to open.

"Ruby.."I hear Yang whisper to me from behind. "It's no use, she probably froze the door shut, it'll take at least a couple hours to get it open from this side without some kind of explosive."

I already knew that but hearing it out loud was like a punch in the gut. I slowly slide to the floor. I wanted to scream at Yang, tell her she was wrong but I couldn't bring myself to knowing what she was also dealing with right now so instead I just cry.

"I have to help her Yang...she is the most important person in the world to me..I can't let her die." I choke out through the tears.

"She must feel the same way about you sis...that's why she staid behind." she says.

"Thats not fair though!" I shout louder than I really meant to. "Its not fair for her to make that decision all on her own, she thinks its selfless but its not its selfish!"

"You are right it was selfish, it was selfish of her to make that decision without you...but I think we are all entitled to be selfish like that once in awhile." she says, prompting me to turn and look at her. "Besides you are being just as selfish yourself wanting to take her place, aren't you?"

When she said that it was like I had just been smacked in the face. She's right, I have no right to be upset with Weiss for doing what she did, honestly if I had thought of it first I would have done the same thing not to mention i was planning to run away and leave everyone behind. What right do I have to talk about being selfish...that doesn't make this hurt any less though. I crawl over next to Yang and an unconcious Neo who is being bandaged up by Dusk. I lay my head on Yang's shoulder both to comfort her and myself.

"I know...I just lover her so much, just the thought of losing her makes me sick to my stomache." I say trying hard to not cry again.

"I know the feeling sis, trust me..." she says brushing Neo's cheek. She is still breathing but we won't know until Dusk is finished treating her wether or not she will make it.

"I'm sorry...I know you don't have it any easier than me right now." I say putting an arm around her. "I am sure she will pull through, Neo is strong as hell."

"She better..or else I will never forgive her." she says grabbing her hand.

'You are such an idiot,' the other me says in an attempt to rile me up. 'It was so obvious that was about to happen.'

'Shut up.' I say back really not wanting to listen to her right now.

'Just give up and let Salem wake up, humanity had a...good run as far as travesties go, it's just time for humanity to finally concede to the Grimm.' she says as if it's just so simple. 'Humanity, the Wizard, and the God of Light were always destined to lose so just give up already and maybe you can save Weiss, just convince her to become a Grimmiore and at the very least you two will get to live.'

'Sorry..but I'm not a coward, I would never betray the entire world just for my sake and I know Weiss would say the same, we can still stop Raven and even if Salem did wake up I would fight to my last breath to put her back to sleep for good.' I say giving my final word on the matter.

After sitting there with Yang for awhile longer I decide that I need to find a way to get back out to Weiss. I kiss Yang on the top of the head before getting up and darting deeper into the tomb. I can hear Yang asking me where I am going but I don't have any more time to waste. I need to see if Neo and Weiss missed any sort of opening however small it may be so I can get outside. I just hope I am not to late by then.

Weiss' POV

With a dire sense of urgency I charge forward with my familiars, this is an exceedingly dangerous attack plan, summoning all of them at once eats away at my aura far to quickly. I have to conserve aura so much just to keep them around that I have to lower my protective field just to maintain the summons and even then I only have maybe 3 minutes tops before it is all drained away.

With that in mind I press forward as quickly as possible, eventually colliding with the crowd of Grimmiore and begin tearing through them. With the help of all my familiars not to mention the remaining strike team members we make pretty quick work of them. It still manages to take over a couple minutes which means that I only have about a minute left to do what I staid behind to do.

I turn my attention to Raven, she is still busy fighting Jaune and Pyrhha who are pretty worn out from the looks of it. She just about overpowers them before I manage to charge in between them. I block her blow with Myternaster while my familiars all surround her. I command them all to attack her in unison. My boarbatusk sends her flying into my Beowulf who knocks her up into the air where she is knocked back down by my Queen Lancer and finnally the last of her aura is drained away by a blow from my Knight which sends her flying into a wall. Finally as she collides witht he wall I freeze her in place with all the ice dust I have left and my familiars all fade away with the last little bit of Aura I had.

"Weiss...that was incredible." Jaune says running over to my side just as I collapse to my knees in exhaustion.

"Yeah..just wish it didn't take all the energy I had." I say trying to stand but just falling back down.

"Don't try to stand Weiss, you have practically no Aura left at all, you are going to be out of commision for awhile." Pyrhha says kneeling down next to me.

"Well..I may hurt all over but at least I managed to stop that monster." I strain to say. Suddenly those words are followed by a sick maniacal laugh. We all look towards Raven to see she is just laughing uncontrollably.

"What is so funny bitch?" I say glaring at her.

"Oh, just the fact that you think you have won, it is hysterical." she says between fits of laughter.

I only have a moment to ponder what she just said before I hear a familiar voice call out to me.

"Weiss look out!" I hear it shout. I turn around looking for the source of the voice but in a split second my vision is blocked by a red cloak. From behind it a familiar giant scythe appears and slices a spear that had been flying at me in two.

"Ruby!?" I shout wondering how she escaped the tomb. I turn to see the door is still sealed shut only further perplexing me. Though I suppose I should just be relieved I am not dead.

I stand to my feet or more accurately I try to and nearly fall over. Ruby quickly turns and catches me before I hit the ground. It's slightly embarassing for me to be seen in such a state by anyone let alone Ruby. All weak, battered, and bruised but being in Ruby's embrace is also very comforting.

"Weiss?" she asks sounding very concerned.

"I'm fine just...that fight took alot out of me." I reply reassuringly.

"Good." she says with a smile before smacking me.

"Ruby, what the-!?" I start to shout before I am cut off by a forceful kiss to my lips.

My shock and anger melts into confusion before eventually being replaced by a peaceful relief and bliss. I can't help but tear up a little, after all once I sealed Ruby in that tomb I was pretty sure that was goodbye, that I would never see her again.

Eventually she breaks the kiss and looks me deeply in the eye.

"Weiss, I love you and I know you were just trying to protect me but don't you ever think you can make that kind of decission for me again." she says with a seriously stern expression.

I feel a stab of guilt in my gut, she's right it was wrong for me to decide for her that she lives and I die. If the situation was reversed I'd probably feel hurt too.

"I'm sorry Ruby...I was being selfish..I-" I start to say before she once again cuts me off by putting a finger to my lips.

"Weiss it's okay I forgive you but more importantly" she gestures around us at the ocean of Grimm, suddenly out of it comes dozens of Grimmiore all smirking sinisterly. "We have other problems to deal with."

"You fools thought that initial assualt was all my troops?!" Raven shouts followed by maniacal laughter. "These are my real elite troops, they hung back as a contingency plan, all top tier A-Rank except for one."

Suddenly a Grimmiore with enormous dragon like wings jumps down from ontop of the tomb and lands infront of it, she also has big jagged horns on her head.

"Why hello there" she says with the creepiest smile on her face. "the name is Saphire."

"I thought we killed or turned all your S-Rank pets Raven?" Ruby asks stepping partly in front of me.

"Indeed you did, however Saphire here is more like an apprentice." she says grinning maliciously. "I kept her hidden away as a sort of hidden gun oh and a bit of advice even Lucious was weak next to her."

What?! She has to be joking...this is really bad, even at full power Lucious was tough and we are all exhausted and beaten with the exception of Ruby. My Aura reserves will recharge but it will take awhile and I doubt they will just wait politely. Before I can think much more I feel Jaunes hand on my back and his Aura flowing into me.

"Jaune what are you doing?" I ask befuddled. Then all the others do the same for me and Ruby.

"We are all to tired and weak to fight anymore, you and Ruby are our best chance, so we are giving you our Aura." he says smirking. I feel a rush of energy and strength like nothing I have ever felt before, filling me more and more by the second. "Now go finish this."

I can't help but smile as my friends all give up their energy to help us. I stand to my feet and take a battle ready stance.

"Thank you, all of you, now stay safe." I say once again shooting ice from my hands just as I did in the ocean of Grimm. Concealing them in a dome of thick ice.

The Grimmiore, including Raven and Saphire, must've taken notice of our amplified auras. Hard not to considering Ruby and I are both engulfed in glowing elemental auras, hers consisting of fire and lightning, mine consisting of ice and water. The looks on their faces range from concern to fear. With the exception of Saphire who still has that damn smirk on her face. Not a big dealm we'll wipe it off.

"Ruby this amplified state won't last long especially with how much Aura we are about to expend, I'd say five minutes tops." I say loading Myternaster.

"Well then I guess we'll just have to finish this quick." she responds cocking Crescent Rose.

"I'll hold off the lackies and guard Raven, you deal with crazy over there." I say summoning my familiars once again.

"Got it, just make sure that you don'y get hurt." she says smiling at me.

"You too." I respond with a smile of my own before signaling my familiars to scatter as I turn my focus towards Raven and her 'elite soldiers'.

Ruby's POV

"You're going to take me on alone?" Saphire asks bursting out with condescending laughter.

" I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you." I say conjuring a fireball. "You have to sense how powerful I am now, I have maiden powers, an amplified Aura, and though it pains me to admit it Grimmiore powers as well."

"Oh no doubt that little boost of yours definetly put you ahead of me in raw power but I'm no fool that boost won't last very long." she says with a sly grin. "I just have to run down the clock."

She's not wrong, once this boost runs out I am screwed. With that in mind I decide to stop wasting time and charge her. Despite my immense boost in strength and speed all I did was knock her back. That stupid grin still plastered on her face.

In response she pulls out her weapon, in its neutral form it looks like a normal Katana but then she activates the Dust cylinder in the hilt and the blade starts sparking with arcs of electricity. She swipes it at me and a wave of electrcity was shot in my direction. I barely manage to dodge it by jumping into the air but I could feel some of the heat and static discharge. That weapons is no joke and under any other circumstance I'd be nerding out over it but this is seriously not the time.

I fire a blast of fire from my hand that would've incinerated her on the spot had she not dodged, then I fire a blast of lightning down on top of her which she is forced to block with her sword. While she is busy absorbing the electricity I fire a shot from Crescent Rose which she just barely manages to dodge by tilting her head to the side at the last second. Though it does graze her cheek which drains some of her Aura. Finally cracks start to appear in her confidence as she is no longer smirking or grinning.

"Not bad, you are the first and last person who will ever land a hit on me." she says before dashing toward me at frightening speed.

Luckily I am faster and blocked her attack before spinning and and attempting to land a kick to her head which she blocks.

We just keep going back and forth like that for a solid minute. Trading blows with neither of us landing a solid hit. I only have maybe 3 minutes or so left in this form. I have to put and end to this much more quickly.


	28. Chapter 26

Weiss' POV

My familiars are far more powerful in this form than usual. They are easily holding their own against the A-Rank Grimmiore, leaving me to make sure Raven stays trapped. It's amazing how in this form I can not only keep them all summoned longer than usual, keep my protective field up and they are even stronger.

That being said Ruby is going almost toe to toe with Saphire in this form. Confirming my theory that we would have been thoroughly doomed if not for this powerup. I would help by firing at Saphire but they are moving so fast I am afraid I'll either miss or worse hit Ruby.

"Such a shame isn't it, to have nearly demigod like powers and still falling short." Raven says while chuckling condescendingly. "Honestly though if you two fought together Saphire likely wouldn't stand a chance."

"I'm aware but somebody has to keep an eye on you." I say not taking my gaze off of the fight and my familiars. "Besides she doesn't need my help, can't you see, this fight is already over."

"What the hell are you talk-" she starts to say before I cut her off.

"Ruby!" I shout. "Stop playing around and finish her already you dolt."

"heh sorry Weiss, just having fun with the new powers." she says chuckling and nervously rubbing the back of her head. "Guess the other me is having a bigger effect on me than I thought."

"What are you going on about?" Saphire asks before immediately getting suckerpunched in the gut by Ruby which knocks the wind out of her. Then she uses Crescent Rose, swinging it at her and sending her flying into a pillar, likely draining most if not all of her remaining Aura in two blows.

Raven is in complete shock and disbelief while Saphire seems to share that feeling alonside what I imagine to be a lot of pain.

"What the hell..how did she?" Raven asks unable to finish her sentence.

"That's about what I expected, Ruby was only going at about 70% there after all." I say matter of factly.

"This can't be.." Saphire says somehow managing to get to her feet. "I saw all the footage of your previous fights, how did you get so strong!?"

"Wish I could tell you." Ruby answers honestly. "This is the first time I or probably anyone has seen a form like this, I couldn't tell you what it is."

"...This isn't right." Saphire says spitting out some blood. "Until now you were barely a match for Lucious and now you are wiping the floor with ME, I spent my whole life training for the day we Grimmiore would destroy you pathetic humans, I will not let you take that away!"

Suddenly Saphire charges at Ruby with her sword, aiming straight for her heart but Ruby dodges fairly effortlessly. Ruby then knocks her back down onto the ground with ease causing her to cough up more blood.

"Thats enough, this fight is over, you lose so just stay down." Ruby says walking over towards me. "Weiss put some Ice cuffs on her, its over."

"No...how is this possible, how could I constantly throw everything I can at you and you still manage to find a way to win.." Raven asks casting her gaze downward as I comply with Ruby's request.

In that moment our power boost runs out and we return to our normal selves. Saphire is beaten on the ground, the Grimmiore have been dealt with, Raven is captured, and Salem is still sealed away. We did it...we actually did it and just in time too.

"It's like I told Allen, yeah we humans are undeniably flawed and even evil at times, but we also have a powerful tool at our disposal that has kept us alive since the beginning and helps us to do the imposible." Ruby says through exhausted heavy breathing, that form having taken alot out of us. "Hope, as long as we have that nothing can stop us, you will never win."

She slowly walks over to me and puts her arms around my neck, I respond by putting my hands on her hips.

"We did it Weiss, we really did it." she says with tears forming in her eyes.

"Yes we did." I say smiling and holding back tears myself.

We both lean in and lock our lips together, the tears now flowing uncontrollably. We stay like that for awhile before I eventually remember something and pull away reluctantly.

"Oh yeah." I say sniffling. "I should probably let our friends out."

Ruby and I walk over to the dome and I press my hand against the ice, melting it in mere moments. As soon as I do they all rush over and embrace us. We enjoy the embrace for a bit before someone speaks up.

"Is it over, did we win?" Jaune asks. Ruby and I both just nod in response. They all cheer and hug us even more.

Suddenly Jaunes radio starts buzzing back to life and the voice of the ship pilot who brought us here comes in.

"Are you there!?" he shouts over the radio. "Please come in!"

"Captain Arc here." Jaunes answers quickly putting the radio up to his mouth. "Mission successful, I repeat, mission successful."

"Copy that sir, good to hear." he responds sounding very releived. "I'm currently on route to pick you up."

Ruby and I both remember that Yang, Neo and the Maidens are all locked inside the Tomb. We both run over to the temple doors and melt the ice sealing them before pulling them open.

Both Maidens have assumed a combat stance, clearly ready to defend themselves until they see it us and a wave of relief washes over their faces. Yang immediately runs over to us and hugs Ruby.

"I'm so glad you are okay." she says pulling me into the hug. "Both of you."

We both hug her back so relieved that we are able to do this again at all. Then I spot Neo leaning against a pillar smiling and waving. The three of us walk over and kneel next to her.

"I'm relieved to see you pulled through." I say smiling at her.

She pulls out her slightly cracked scroll and types out a message.

'Please, it'll take alot more than that to kill me.' she smirks at us though she is clearly drained.

After awhile we hear the whirring of ship engines outside. We put Neo's arms over mine and Yang's shoulders. We help her walk out to see that the others have already started boarding the ship with the exception of Pyrrha and Jaune who are carrying Qrow's body on a stretcher. Seeing his body caused a wave of sadness to wash over us again once it hits us once more that we lost such an amazing person on this mission our only solice being that his sacrifice wasn't in vain.

Ruby runs up to him as they are lifting him into the cargo hold. Neo pulls her arm off me which I respond to by shooting her a confused look.

'Go on, she is gonna need you more.' she types out on her scroll.

"Thanks." I say flashing her a brief smile before running after Ruby.

Just as I reach her she is slowly pulling away the sheet they placed over him to reveal his peaceful face. He looks so peaceful infact that you'd be forgiven for thinking he was merely asleep.

"I'm sorry Uncle Qrow..." Ruby says with a sad chuckle, tears forming in her eyes "..looks like we just weren't able to save eachother this time."

I take hold of her hand in an effort to comfort her.

"I promise that I will continue to be the huntress that you taught me to be and that I will never let this darkness inside of me hurt anyone else." she says tears now falling down her cheeks.

"My promise still stands as well, I will always be there for Winter and the Baby as long as I live." I says gripping Ruby's hand tighter, implying that I will be there for her as well.

"We both will." Ruby says in response before leaning over and kissing his forehead. "Goodbye Uncle Qrow, I love you so much."

With that, once they know we are done, Jaune and Pyrrha put Qrow into the cargo hold as respectfully as they can before stepping back out and boarding the ship themselves. We board immediately after they do. As the shup takes off and flies away we watch Salem's Tomb disappear into the distance.

Neither of us really know exactly where to go from here. There will be a lot of work to do once we get home, not to mention...funerals to attend. As I'm thinking of everything that awaits us back home I feel Ruby's head lay on my shoulder. She must be as exhausted as I am as she slowly drifts off to sleep. As I look at her sleeping face I can't help but smile in spite of everything else. I realize that while much of our future is uncertain, as long as I have her I know I will be able to handle it.

EPILOGUE

Ruby's POV

"Rubin, Eis, Dove time to come inside!" I shout from the front doorway.

"Mommy!" Rubin shouts running up to with Eis and Dove tailing just behind him.

"What is it dear?" I ask kneeling down to meet his eye level.

"Well its just that Eis, Dove and I agreed we wanna be huntsman like you and Momma someday." he says grinning adorably.

"Is that so?" I ask smiling at him.

"Yeah I wanna use a sword like Momma!" Eis says giggling and imitating Weiss, sooooo cute.

"I wanna use something like what Auntie Yang uses." Rubin says throwing a few punches, no surprise there.

"What about you Dove?" I ask turning to her.

"Well...Mother says that my father used a sythe." she says.

"Yes he did, he was the absolute best there was too." I say.

"Mother also told me he taught you how to use one." she says, I have a feeling I know where this is going.

"That's right." I say.

"Well I was wondering if...if you'd teach me when I am big enough." she says with more conviction than I am used to seeing from her.

I am filled with pride, honor, and joy knowing that I'll get to pass on the skills that Uncle Qrow taught me. I smile and pat her on the head.

"You bet Snowbird, I'm sure your Daddy would be proud to know his daughter is gonna be a Scythe master." I say. I just hope that somehow you can see her Uncle Qrow and that you are as proud as I am. I wipe a stray tear away and stand back up. "Anyway, who's hungry?"

"Me, me!" they all shout at once.

"Are there any cookies?" Eis asks.

"What kind of supermom would I be if there weren't?" I ask prompting them all to cheer. "None until after dinner though."

They all sulk slightly but only for a moment. Just as we are about to head back inside we hear a familiar voice.

"Hope there is enough for us." the voice shouts and we turn to see Weiss and Winter finally back from their mission.

"Mommy!" Rubin and Eis shout running and hugging Weiss, almost knocking her down.

"It's good to see you goofballs too." she says smiling and kneeling down to hug them, kissing them each on their heads.

Dove walks up to her mother and politely hugs her. Winter does as Weiss does and kneels down to hug her.

"I missed you Mother." she says smiling sweetly.

"I missed you too dear." Winter says smiling more warmly than i would've ever though she was capable of back in the day. They may be a bit to formal for my tastes but it's still sweet.

"Where is my greeting Weiss Rose?" I ask walking up to them. She responds by standing up and kissing me on the lips.

"EW!" our children shout in unison, repulsed at the sight. Which prompts both Weiss and I to giggle at how adorable they are.

"Sorry we didn't call ahead, our mission ended sort of abruptly and we didn't have good scroll service." Weiss says.

"Don't worry about it hun, it's just good to see you." I say hugging her.

After catching up for a few minutes we all head inside and sit down to eat dinner. Luckily I made quite a bit of food just incase they did end up making it back tonight. As we all sit and enjoy our meal, talking away about anything and everything. I can't help but think back to those days.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that Weiss and I were fighting for not just our lives but the lives of everyone we care about not to mention the whole world. The people of all four kingdoms praised us as heros but Weiss and I had no interest in all that. We just wanted to continue protecting people as normal Huntresses and build a life together once we got done helping rebuild the world. Looking around I'd say we did a pretting good job.

"So Mommy, you're gonna go out on a mission next?" Rubin asks between bites of food.

"First don't talk with your mouth full." I say prompting him to swallow and apologize. "Second, yes I'll be heading out in a week, gotta keep food on the table after all."

"We know mommy, we just miss you when you're gone." Eis says absolutely melting my heart.I pull them both into a big momma bear hug, holding back a squeal.

"Mommy misses you munchkins too when she is gone." I say kissing them on the top of their heads. "You two and Momma are all I can think about when I'm away."

The road getting here may have been tough but when all is said and done, I couldn't be happier with the life I have with Weiss and our children. They mean the entire world to me.

'oh barf, you are so sentimental.' the other me says. She is still a prick but she is far more tolerable now. For some reason even after all these years she just refuses to fade into my subconcious.

'No one asked you, besides after all this time even you have to admit you love these guys." I say.

'Please I don't love anything, at best I'd consider not killing them.' she says stubbornly as if that alone doesn't speak volumes about how much she has changed.

'Yeah yeah whatever you say.' I respond.

Once they are done eating the kids ask if they can go back outside and play a bit longer. Weiss and I agree to let them and they bolt outside. Weiss and I follow them, I have my arm over her shoulder and she has hers arond my waist as we stand on the porch watching them play Huntsmen.

"You know, a silver lining to everything that we went through is that because of all that they'll hopefully never have to deal with anything that awful." I say.

"Yeah, it was awful and I'd never wanna relive it but like you said, at least we made a better world for them." Weiss says laying her head on my chest.

After awhile I decide to call them in and as they run up to us I can't help but become excited to see them grow and one day surpass us. Who knows they may even be the generation that finally puts an end to The Creatures of Grimm once and for all. Thanks to the Strike Team, the combined efforts of the world and the my family for tracking me down in the beggining all those years ago the sky is the limit for this generation. Heck maybe not even the sky will be able to constrain them, who knows? Regardless as our story comes to a close it'll be up to them to write their own.


End file.
